45. God’s Sovereign Rule

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Hymn: RHC 80 The Day Thou Givest, Lord 83 This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made 93 To God be the Glory

Isaiah 10:5-19

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? 9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: 14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. 16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; 18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth. 19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

God’s Sovereign Rule

OUTLINE

  • God’s Directing Hand of Conquest (v5-7)
  • Seemed Oblivious of God’s Directing Hand (8-11)
  • God Intervening Hand (v12-19)

INTRODUCTION

The affairs of nations are under the directing hand of God. Even kings, mighty earthly kings, are under the direct influencing rule of God.

The Apostle Paul rightly observed Israel as a nation under God so was Egypt – Romans 9:17-19 (KJV) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?  

Romans 9:20-22 (KJV) Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Man must be humbled to the dust to know that God rules over the affairs of men. He rules over the affairs of nations for His purpose to the glory of His Name.

The Assyrian’s were God’s instrument of chastisement for His people in Israel and Judah. He raised them for this purpose to show forth His glory.

  • God’s Directing Hand of Conquest (v5-7)

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

 Marvelous is God’s work of Providence, His “most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions.” In His hands He raised up an instrument to punish His people Judah. That instrument was the mighty nations of Mesopotamia, Assyria and Babylon. But they thought that they were acting in their own strength. All that we do has been foreordained of God, and to Him we are responsible. When we are employed in some momentous task we should look to Him and acknowledge His greatness for using us as He has. This Assyria did not so. Puffed up with pride, she thought that she was conducting affairs in accordance to her own wishes. Instead of recognizing the sovereignty of God, she believed herself to be sovereign.

Judgment was indeed to come to Judah, but woe to that nation that brings the judgment. Instruments of God who measure their task by their own lusts and desires are the objects of woe. Assyria is the rod by which the anger of God is manifested, the rod with which He strikes. In the hand of Assyria also there was a staff, and that staff which was in Assyria’s hand was God’s anger. Not only the nation itself, but also its power and might were controlled by the wrath and anger of God. When a nation is thus charged with the execution of God’s wrath and looks not to God, it itself can only become the object of woe.

6 I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

God alone could send. He could send plagues and He could send prophets. Now He sends Assyria against an irreligious nation, even Israel and Judah. Once he had called them “my people”; now He speaks of them simply as “a people”. It is a people that provokes and deserves His wrath. The tempest will come, and wrath will be poured out upon Israel and Judah with the result that there will be a great despoliation[1]. The enemy will trample the land just as the mire in the street is trampled. It would be difficult to discover the figure more adapted to express the utter lack of concern of Assyria for the inhabitants of Israel and Judah. Note the strength of the parallelism in v6a, a parallelism which even advances to rhyme.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

In God’s hand the Assyrian was an unconscious and unwitting instrument. To claim that Isaiah thought that Isaiah thought that the Assyrian knew God’s commission is mistaken. At the same time Assyria was without excuse. Assyria should have realized, and all nations should realize, that in all that they do they are instruments in God’s hand.

For Assyria this was a special providence, which, inasmuch as it was directed against the nation and the city where the LORD dwelt, should have caused heart-searching. Assyria, the great power, has here become personified, and Isaiah speaks of this power as purposing and thinking in its heart. Assyria does not think that she is in the hands of God. Her purpose, rather, is to destroy and to conquer many nations. To this pattern of thought the courses of tyrants and dictators have been true from the days of Assyria down to our times, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Khrushchev. God’s purpose was to have Assyria cut off Judah; Assyria would purpose to cut off many nations.

  • Seems Oblivious of God’s Directing Hand (v8-11)

8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?

Assyria speaks and gives expression to her philosophy of war. She too has a word. I have princes, she says, princes who are subject to me and over whom I am lord, but these are kings as far as the rest of the world is concerned. I am the great king. Thus, Assyria arrogates to herself a position that belongs alone to the true King of kings and Lord of lords. Her war philosophy came to outward expression in her incursions and expeditions and in the words of Rabshakeh which were later addressed to Judah. “Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of my hand?” (2 Kings 18:33-35).

2 Kings 18:33-35 (KJV) Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?

These are the words of defiance, not of a consciousness that one is an instrument of the Lord.

9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?

The world power had boasted of its princes, now of its conquests. It is not any one particular Assyrian king who is to be thought of as speaking but the Assyrian thought or spirit as such. The conquest had been speedily achieved. One nation gave way before Assyria just as did another. Calno was the same as Carchemish. First the one had been taken, and then the other. Neither could withstand. Hamath was like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus. The enemy speaks as though Samaria had already fallen, so that Jerusalem would have to give earnest heed to this boast. Would Jerusalem be the next to fall? Could Jerusalem be any exception? The Assyrian thought not, but what would Judah herself think?

All these were fairly kingdoms which in Isaiah’s time had been destroyed. Calno was taken in 738 B.C., Carchemish on the Euphrates in 717, Hamath on the Orontes in 720, Arpad in 740 and 720, Samaria in 722 and Damascus in 732. It is an interesting enumeration, one that seems to come closer and closer to Jerusalem. It begins with the most distant and most northern places and concludes with the nearest and most southern. These, however, are not the conquests of a single Assyrian king; they are the conquests of Assyria.

10 As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

Here is Assyria at the height of her boasting, directing words of conviction to Israel so that Israel would feel the necessity for surrendering. It is Assyria vaunting herself, but she uses Israelitish forms of speech. “Why,” she addresses Israel, “do you think that the LORD your God can protect you? The nations round about, whose gods you have called idols, have each had gods, but they have all been deceived in their gods. With you too it will be the same. Just as in my hand, my powerful hand, has found the idol kingdoms, kingdoms whose images exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria, much more will it find Jerusalem and Samaria themselves. In boasting blasphemy Assyria designates the holy LORD of hosts an idol.

11 Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

The boasting continues. The rod by which God expressed His anger now vaunted itself above Him. In this perverted reasoning of Assyria there are two stages. First, other nations have easily fallen. Secondly, Samaria, the sister kingdom, has also easily fallen and Samaria trusted in the LORD. Actually, Samaria had not yet fallen, but Isaiah allows the Assyrian to speak as though the conquest were already past.

What, however, about the Judahites’ relationship to the LORD? Was He to them anything more than an idol? Should they have taken offense at the blasphemous reference of the Assyrian, when they themselves by their practices ignored His being?

  • God Intervening Hand (v12-19)

12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

We have listened to the boasting heart of Assyria. The Lord now speaks and announces what He will do. The persecution of Zion and Jerusalem represents in essence the substance of all the persecutions that would come upon the Church, and the declaration and description of this punishment prepare the way for the announcement of the coming of the end of days, the period of blessing to be ushered in by the Messiah. The work to be accomplished on Zion may seem to be the Assyrian’s, but in reality, it is the Lord’s, who is in control of all that is done. The Assyrian must also be punished, but before he is punished the Lord intends to complete His work on Zion.

When this is completed then the Lord, the Sovereign One – Isaiah does not use the Tetragrammaton – will turn His attention to Assyria. The vainglorious blasphemy of the true God is Assyria’s fruit. It is the fruit of self-glorification and swelled-up heart, whereby he overestimated his own significance, a fact which gives itself expression in the lofty look of his eyes.

13 For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:

Assyria counted on two things, strength and wisdom. Yet her strength was weakness, and her wisdom folly. True strength and true wisdom are necessary for a successful ruler, and Assyria thought that she had both of these. These two attributes were manifested in removing the bounds of peoples, thus taking them to be part of herself. No one like Assyria had mixed up nations before. Those who had been on the throne of Assyria brought down so that they must go about without a fixed dwelling.

14 And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

To find an unprotected nest, with the mother bird away, and to take the eggs from that nest, is not difficult. The young birds cannot defend themselves, neither by moving a wing nor by opening the mouth. To the Assyrian the whole world is but a nest, an unprotected nest, and he has taken and will take what he desires. With the exception of Tyre, Arabia and Egypt, Assyria had conquered the then known world. To her it was no more difficult than taking eggs from a bird’s nest. The earth, however, did not belong to Assyria; it belonged to the Lord.

Psalm 24:1 (KJV) A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

Wrongfully, Assyria had taken what did not belong to her. Her actions therefore were really an assault upon God Himself and His Name.

15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

Assyria’s boasting cannot go unchecked. Like Amos his predecessor, Isaiah asks some pertinent questions, and these bring out the true nature of things. Assyria was only an axe in the hands of God. Should Assyria exalt herself over God who was employing her? That were truly a perversion of the right order of things. Should a mere saw, held in the hands of a carpenter vaunt itself, as though it were acting without the hand of the carpenter, as though it were independent and greater than the hand that held it?

How lifeless a mere rod is! Can a lifeless rod actually wield those who hold it and wield it? That were folly indeed, but that was the way in which Assyrian was acting. And a staff, made of wood, a mere material object, should it lift that which is immaterial, which is not wood like itself? Shall finite, human Assyria move the mighty God? Can we for a moment accept this philosophy of Assyria? Yet, so do sinners constantly act, perverting the true nature of things. Sin involves perversion. He who sins, by that very fact shows that he regards himself as greater than God. God forbids. Man disobeys. Does it not then follow that man considers himself of greater authority than God? “Whenever men ascribe to themselves,” says Calvin, “more than is proper they rise against God.” Here are only a couple of examples taken from daily life, but they show the folly of Assyria’s attitude.

16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

Folly is the counsel of Assyria and that counsel cannot stand. The sovereign God will act. This sovereign God is the LORD of hosts, and He will again send. He had already declared (v6) that He would send the Assyrian against a profane nation. Now He will send against the Assyrian, whose warriors are designated fat ones, a leanness which will destroy them. Just as fat animals are thought to be the best, so the army of Assyria was the best; it was a fat army in that it was rich and strong and in good, healthy condition. Upon this strong army God sends consumption or leanness, so that the whole army will be weakened unto death and will then know that the God of Israel is truly the Sovereign One. The condition of the Assyrian army will be completely changed.

The glory of Assyria! Her might and magnificence; her civil and material greatness! Could anything withstand them? Under this glory in which she boasted the One who has all power will kindle a burning, which will burn like the burning of fire. As under thorns and thistles men kindle a fire, so that fire reaches up, crackling and devouring, till the thorns and thistles are gone. Lighted under the glory, it towers up in flame, until the glory is entirely consumed.

17 And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

To Israel God is a light, for He is pure, and the source of knowledge and salvation; to Assyria, He is a fire that devours and consumes. To His people He is a light that shines in the darkness of their hearts and brings them saving truth; to those whom He would punish this light becomes an omnivorous fire. Israel’s Holy One, the Light, will be to the enemy a flame. Before this fire of burning wrath – this destructive might of God’s penal righteousness – the glory of Assyria was like a mass of thorns and briers. They had grown up in the place where the once theocratic nation dwelt. Now they crackle and burn up. It is swift and sudden. One day! As God has raised up nations, so He can swiftly consume them.

18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

Burning first the thorns and briers, the flames leap higher and consume even the high trees of the forest. Using figures borrowed from the world of plants and trees, Isaiah represents the greatness of the Assyrian enemy. Sennacherib himself had used similar language.

Isaiah 37:24 (KJV) By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel.

Composed of various nations, the Assyrian army was a forest. Possibly too there is a reflection upon the fact that the Assyrians had brought beautiful trees from other lands. On the other hand, the karmel was the cultivated land in contrast to wilderness and forest. In its entirety the glory of the Assyrian, all in which he could place his boast, would be consumed by the fire of God’s punishing justice.

Assyria was also like a man about to waste away. His soul would consume and with it also his body, so that nothing would remain. This consuming would not be accidental, but was to be imposed by God who would cause both soul and body to waste away.

Sickness and fire are mixed together in the description, and a proverbial manner of speaking is introduced. Assyria’s decaying will be like the wasting away of a sick man. This is the conclusion of the whole matter. God will so act that Assyria will be like a consuming of a consumptive. How proud, how boasting was that philosophy of Assyria! What were gods to such a nation! One of these gods, however, One indeed whom Assyria called an idol, was the Sovereign One, and when He acted, Assyria was reduced to a languishing consumptive, pining away to nothing.

19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

Assyria’s forest will not be completely destroyed, for there will be a remnant. A few trees will remain. These, however, will be so few in number that a child could write them down. A little child who cannot count very high will find no difficulty in writing down the few remaining trees of this forest.[2]

CONCLUSION

Let His people bow and worship the LORD. Amen.

[1] despoliation – the action of despoiling or the condition of being despoiled; plunder.

[2] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah – Volume 1 Chapters 1-18, Eerdmans, 1965, 359-368.