Well good evening everyone and welcome to my fifty second episode. Tonight, I want to present you with a sermon that I gave live at my church. The sermon is on Isaiah chapter ten, the first nineteen verses. Please enjoy.
Before we jump in, I want to take a minute to give you some background and to set the scene for what is happening. We are in the ancient Middle-East. All of these events happened about 2,740 years ago. There are four major players in this scene. We have the three small nations of Israel, Syria, and Judah. And then there is the monstrously powerful Assyrian Empire. Notice that Syria and Assyria are two different nations, even though they have a similar sounding name. Now these three small nations (Syria, Israel, and Judah) are feeling the pressure of the Assyrian Empire’s westward expansion at the time that God calls Isaiah to serve Him. Isaiah is given a vision where he is brought into the presence of God in all His glory and holiness. At this moment, the only thing Isaiah can think about is how utterly perfect God is and how horribly insufficient he himself is. God knows this, so He cleanses Isaiah of his sins. Once Isaiah is cleansed, he responds to God by saying, “Here I am, Lord, I’m ready to serve. What would you have me do?” Isaiah is given the task of going into Judah and warning them to turn back to God before the Assyrian Empire comes for them.
Ahaz is king of Judah at this time. Israel and Syria, the other two small nations, are positioned north of Judah – so they are in the cross hairs of the Empire first. So what do they do? They ask Ahaz if Judah will unite with them to defend against the coming invasion. Ahaz says no thanks, you’re on your own. Israel and Syria are not happy about this so they decide to march on Judah for declining to join them. Now, at this point, Isaiah comes in and tells Ahaz that if he trusts in the Lord, Israel and Syria will never make it down to attack Judah. But Ahaz doesn’t have faith in the Lord, and so he decides to send a huge gift to the Empire instead – enlisting their help against Israel and Syria. The Empire responds swiftly, conquering Syria and turning Israel into a vassal state. A vassal state is a country that is kept alive so that it can pay money to the Empire.
So Isaiah tried to tell Judah that if they put their faith in God they would not have to worry about being conquered by Israel and Syria. But Judah ignored Isaiah and put their faith in the Empire instead. This was a huge mistake because now that Syria and Israel were out of the way, Judah themselves were next in the Empire’s path of war. But all of these victories were beginning to make the Assyrian Empire quite arrogant – and that made them enemies of God. So it is in the midst of this geopolitical climate that we pick up in chapter 10, verse 1:
10 What sorrow awaits the unjust judges
and those who issue unfair laws.
2 They deprive the poor of justice
and deny the rights of the needy among my people.
They prey on widows
and take advantage of orphans.
So these verses are directed at the leaders in Judah and in Israel but they can be applied to any collection of people who have spiraled into godlessness. Psalm 94:20 asks us the question of whether unjust leaders can claim that God is on their side. Isaiah defines unjust leaders as those who are rebellious, thieving, accepting of bribes and demanding payoffs. He says unjust leaders will not defend the cause of those who cannot give back to them, the cause of people like widows and orphans. Psalm 94 goes on to say that God will turn the sins of evil people back on them. That he will destroy them for their sins.
So, as Christians, we need to be careful how we treat the poor and how we treat the needy. But of course, human beings in their lust for power tend to pervert and corrupt this idea in many ways. Here are just two of them to watch out for. The first is the person who sits back and watches how much attention and aid is given to real victims by good people. Then this person says, “Maybe I’ll be a victim too. Then I can get my hands on this charitable giving and abuse it for power. After all, the world owes me for putting me in this position. It’s not my own failures, it’s theirs.” That’s danger number one. Danger number two is the person, or collection of people, who say, “Why don’t you just give me all of the power and the resources so that I can redistribute them in a way that’s fair. After all, I’m not a fallen human being like everyone else – my judgment is perfect.”
Those are the two dangers when it comes to helping the needy. But despite these people and their nefarious, snake-like behavior – we, as Christians, must still help those who truly need help. The biggest reason is because God commands it. Another reason is because failure to do so will lead to civil unrest. When you have enough people who are living in abject poverty then it becomes very easy to trick them into thinking that they are only impoverished because of oppression. Once they believe other people are to blame for their situation, they will rally behind nearly anyone who promises to get them out – by any means necessary. Even forcible redistribution of wealth or the imprisonment of so-called “privileged oppressors.”
So, when we read these verses about helping the needy, it is absolutely crucial that we understand this must be done voluntarily by individuals who are acting out of love. It cannot be a responsibility that is turned over to the state. Because once it’s turned over to the state, it’s no longer voluntary – it’s mandatory. And if it’s no longer voluntary that means there’s no longer any choice. And if there’s no longer any choice then that means there’s no possibility of love. And if there’s no possibility of love then that means God is no longer in it – and any venture that is attempted without God is doomed for catastrophic failure. And that’s the principal reason why Socialism and Communism can never serve to eliminate widespread poverty but can only serve to promote it. Okay, so in Judah and Israel we have leaders who are neglecting and abusing those who are in need. Let’s see what happens to these leaders as we pick up in verse 3:
3 What will you do when I punish you,
when I send disaster upon you from a distant land?
To whom will you turn for help?
Where will your treasures be safe?
4 You will stumble along as prisoners
or lie among the dead.
But even then the Lord’s anger will not be satisfied.
His fist is still poised to strike.
So now God is asking a question of these leaders who were so confident in their own ways. So certain their depravity would never catch up to them. What will you do when the bottom falls out and you realize everything you believed about yourself was wrong? Isaiah speaks of the fate of these people who choose to live and lead in this way in chapter 66 when he says that the Lord will punish the world by fire and by his sword. He will judge the earth and many will be killed by him. In chapter 34 he says their dead will be left unburied and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood. This sounds unpleasant. And it is at least as unpleasant as it sounds. People have been doing these kinds of things to each other since the dawn of man, and if you’ve ever looked up pictures of the Soviet Gulag or of Auschwitz you can see the bodies of people in piles. And that’s without turning your head toward the People’s Republic of China under Chairman Mao (which really just means communist China). Some estimates are as high as 45 million people killed or starved to death. Evil is real and unabated evil, unrestrained evil, always leads to this kind of outcome.
So God’s judgment is what the people of Judah and Israel have in store for them in the form of their respective exiles. Remember, Israel was taken by Assyria in 722 B.C. and Judah will be taken by Babylon in 586 B.C. Earlier we said that the Assyrian Empire was becoming quite arrogant in the wake of their widespread military successes. God sees this, and Isaiah predicts how God is going to level judgment on them, which is where we pick up in verse 5:
5 “What sorrow awaits Assyria, the rod of my anger.
I use it as a club to express my anger.
6 I am sending Assyria against a godless nation,
against a people with whom I am angry.
Assyria will plunder them,
trampling them like dirt beneath its feet.
7 But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool;
his mind does not work that way.
His plan is simply to destroy,
to cut down nation after nation.
Okay, so we see this idea of Assyria being God’s tool that He is using to judge the godlessness among His people. The prophet Jeremiah talks about this same idea with regards to Babylon when he says that Babylon is God’s battle-ax and sword, and that with Babylon God will shatter many nations. The problem with Assyria is that its king does not realize he is part of a bigger plan, instead he’s just hell-bent on destruction. The Bible tells us that despite these horrific judgments, God’s ultimate plan is for the good of his people. So even though Assyria and its king intend harm, God is going to use the situation for good. This is very similar to what Joseph said back in Genesis chapter 50 when he told his brothers that even though they intended to harm him, God intended all of it for good.
The idea here is that God is always in control even when we don’t know the entirety of His plan. Even when His plan involves using the horrible actions of a person, or of a collection of people to bring about an even greater good. When it came to Judah, the prophet Micah said that many nations gathered against Jerusalem and desired to see its destruction. But they didn’t understand that God’s judgment was just one part of a grand design. The greatest example of this happened when everyone abandoned Jesus to the cross. They didn’t realize that the crucifixion was just one step in God’s plan of loving salvation. After Christ was resurrected and ascended, Peter preached to the crowds in Acts chapter 2, and he said:
“But God knew what would happen, his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip.”
So God has a greater plan and the king of Assyria doesn’t understand any of that. He doesn’t believe that he’s just one part of a greater whole. He thinks he’s riding high on the conquest and on the destruction of his enemies. Listen to what he says here in verse 8:
8 He will say,
‘Each of my princes will soon be a king.
9 We destroyed Calno just as we did Carchemish.
Hamath fell before us as Arpad did.
And we destroyed Samaria just as we did Damascus.
10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom
whose gods were greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria.
11 So we will defeat Jerusalem and her gods,
just as we destroyed Samaria with hers.’”
This speech by the Assyrian king gives you some insight into how arrogant he had become. Calno, Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria, and Damascus were all cities that Assyria had conquered. When they took Damascus, which was the capital of Syria, they led its population away as captives and resettled them in a place called Kir. They executed the king. This other city, Hamath, is mentioned when the prophet Amos is warning Jerusalem about becoming lazy in their luxuries. He tells them to consider the great city of Hamath and realize that they are no better than it was and that they still need God. Then we see this city called Carchemish. This is the same city where the Judean king Josiah marched out to fight Pharaoh Neco in 609 B.C., which led to Josiah’s death.
One of the reasons why the Assyrian king had become so certain of himself was because he thought that he was defeating gods every time he conquered a nation. But all of these nations, Israel and Judah included, had become full of idols that were powerless against the Empire’s military machine. The truth is, the Assyrian Empire would not be overthrown until God was done using it for His purposes. And when we fast-forward, it actually is one of those intangible moments in history when the Assyrian Empire fails in its attempt to conquer Judah. Even secular historians have a hard time understanding how this could have happened. But we know that the reason they couldn’t take Judah was because God stood in their way.
12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts,
“By my own powerful arm I have done this.
With my own shrewd wisdom I planned it.
I have broken down the defenses of nations
and carried off their treasures.
I have knocked down their kings like a bull.
14 I have robbed their nests of riches
and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs.
No one can even flap a wing against me
or utter a peep of protest.”
Okay, so notice in verse 12 how it says God will turn against Assyria once He has accomplished His purpose with them. This happens in the year 701 B.C., when Assyria, under king Sennacherib attacks Jerusalem. At the time of this attack, Jerusalem is no longer under king Ahaz. Hezekiah sits on the throne and Hezekiah is a king who has some issues but who is faithful to the Lord. So Syria and Israel are wiped out, and now we have this vast Assyrian army camped outside the capital of Judah. The Assyrian king would rather capture Jerusalem without fighting for it, so he sends his officials to have a parley with Hezekiah’s men. You should know that the Assyrians were very good at psychological warfare. They would use spies to collect intelligence about nations they were going to attack and they knew how to threaten these nations in terms that they would understand and fear.
So the Assyrians try to convince Hezekiah that he has not been very faithful to the Lord and that his city is being delivered into their hands. But Isaiah tells Hezekiah that this is not true and that if he remains faithful to God then the Assyrians will not be able to enter the city. So you have to imagine Hezekiah’s situation at this moment. There’s a huge army camped outside of your city. It looks like they are just toying with you at this point before they decide to pull the trigger and take you down by force. And despite these horrible circumstances, your prophet Isaiah is insisting they you will win the day if you have faith. Hezekiah, against all odds, sends Isaiah out to tell the king of Assyria that not only will we not surrender – but your army is going to be crushed and you’re going to flee in defeat. The proud Assyrian king Sennacherib must have roared laughter at this. But he doesn’t realize Who it is that’s been giving him the power to conquer nations. He thinks he’s done it himself. He doesn’t realize Who it is he is boasting against. In 2 Kings 19:22, God challenges Sennacherib by saying: Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel.
And so through Isaiah, God predicts the day He will level judgment on the mighty Assyrian army as they sit camped outside the capital city Jerusalem. That’s where we pick up in verse 15:
15 But can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it?
Is the saw greater than the person who saws?
Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it?
Can a wooden cane walk by itself?
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
will send a plague among Assyria’s proud troops,
and a flaming fire will consume its glory.
17 The Lord, the Light of Israel, will be a fire;
the Holy One will be a flame.
He will devour the thorns and briers with fire,
burning up the enemy in a single night.
18 The Lord will consume Assyria’s glory
like a fire consumes a forest in a fruitful land;
it will waste away like sick people in a plague.
19 Of all that glorious forest, only a few trees will survive—
so few that a child could count them!
On that night the Angel of the Lord descends on the mighty army of Assyria and kills 185,000 men. Judah is delivered out of the jaws of the Empire and Assyria flees in defeat. This was such a horrible defeat for the Empire that it led to uprisings all across their conquered territory as nations finally had the confidence to stand up to the war machine. And in 612 B.C., just 89 years after they were defeated at Judah, their capital city Nineveh was destroyed and the Assyrian Empire was no more.
There are two important lessons to be learned from the Assyrian Empire. The first is that it is possible for God to accomplish great things through you. Indeed, if He plans to do great things through you then you will be great. It is how you respond to that greatness which determines your standing with God. We must not make the same mistake as Sennacherib and think that it is by our own power that we do the things we do. We should always remember that we are only role players in God’s greater plan. The other lesson is exactly that: God has a greater plan. When all of these nations were falling to the Empire they must have felt like God had abandoned them. Like all was lost. They didn’t know that God was working in their best interest and that He was doing exactly what was necessary to keep them on the path that would bring them home to Him.
All of these judgments, all of this punishment, was but a tiny fraction of the wrath that Jesus took upon Himself when He went to the cross for us. Jesus took upon Himself the sin of all the world – past, present, and future. The Bible says He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Going through the Old Testament and reading about the rise and fall of nations can be a painful process because it shows us just how far away from God humanity can be. In the same way, if you’ve survived wars or if you’ve lived through contact with malevolence and evil then you know exactly how horrible life and humanity can be. But I really do believe it is this understanding of the pain and suffering that makes the Gospel such a mind-blowing miracle. That Jesus, completely set apart from all sin and all evil, would take the pain and suffering of this world upon Himself. That despite our flaws and our tendency toward evil He still loves us and wants us to be with Him – so much so that He would die for it. It is a special thing to be alive and to realize this.
If you find this content valuable, feel free to share it and to use it in your own studies. If you’d like to support this podcast, you can do so at www.patreon.com/michaelhbaun. There is a link in the description. Your generosity goes a long way to promoting the growth of this enterprise and the cause of free speech. Thank you all for joining me this evening, and I will see you in the next episode.
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