“Justice”
[Isaiah 10:5-15]
August 5, 2018, Second Reformed
Church
Last week we heard how Israel
responds to God’s pleas to them to repent by being arrogant and continuing in
their sin as though nothing will ever happen – as though God will never seek to
have the debt to Himself settled.
But we know that’s not true, and Israel
comes to understand that is not true either.
There is a day of reckoning when the debt for sin must be paid. You can pay for your sin and I can pay for my
sin – or Someone can take our place and pay the debt for us. And Jesus, being fully God and fully human,
is the Only One Who can ever take the place of another human being – and He has
taken the place before God for every human being who will ever believe in him
and paid all of our debts to God and credited each one of us with His
righteousness.
In this morning’s text, God addresses the
sin of the Assyrians. We remember the
Assyrians, right? That evil, vicious
nation to the northeast of Israel that Judah made an alliance with against
Israel. That evil, vicious nation that
God sent as His discipline of Israel for her sin.
And we see, first, God is Sovereign.
“Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the
staff in their hands is my fury! Against a godless nation I send him, and
against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and
to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”
God begins by saying “woe.” And we remember from chapter six, “woe”
means, “misery, sorrow, distress” – it is a word that means that things are
going to be – or are – inexpressibly, horrifically, bad. Keep that in mind as we continue.
God says that He sends Assyria as the rod
of His anger. God sends Assyria as the
staff of His fury. God sends the
Assyrians against Israel – and Judah – to take their spoil, and seize, plunder,
and tread them down.
Understand, God did not force the
Assyrians to attack and to kill and to steal and to take people into captivity. God did not make the Assyrians sin against
Israel and Judah – the Assyrians liked to attack and kill and steal and take
people into captivity. God sends the
Assyrians by not stopping them from attacking and killing and stealing and
taking people into captivity. God sends
the Assyrians by not stopping them from doing exactly what they want to do.
Understand, God is not obligated to
protect Israel and Judah from the Assyrians or anyone else. God had protected them and given them victory
in battle – and we see this in the Scripture when they trust God for the battle
– but God does not have to protect them – God does not have to keep them from
being disciplined by God through the means of another nation – even a wicked
nation.
God sovereignly uses the Assyrians to
discipline Israel and Judah with His Wrath by not stopping them from doing what
they want to do. Does that make sense?
But the Assyrians don’t discipline Israel
and Judah out of love and obedience to God.
No, they attack and kill and steal and take people into captivity out of
their own wicked desire. They sin
against God and His people by attacking and killing and stealing and taking
people into captivity.
As God explains, “But he does not so
intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and
to cut off nations not a few; for he says: ‘Are not my commanders all kings? Is
not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like
Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images
were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem
and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?’”
Remember, the whole point of discipline is
to restore – to bring someone back to where they should be. We discipline children so they will do what
is right – we don’t discipline children to hurt or kill them – at least, we
shouldn’t!
God sends the Assyrians against Israel and
Judah – by not stopping the Assyrians – and the goal is for Israel and Judah to
repent. Well, that’s God’s goal. The Assyrians don’t want them to repent and
return to God – the Assyrians want to destroy Israel and Judah and completely
consume them for their own advancement as a nation.
They brag that all of their commanders are
kings.
And they brag that one nation is like
another, and all the nations have and will fall to the Assyrians:
Calno fell to the Assyrians in 738 B. C., and Carchemish fell in 717 B.
C.
Hamath fell in 720 B.C., Arpad also fell
in 720 B.C.
Samaria fell in 722 B.C., and Damascus
fell in 720 B.C. (The Prophecy of Isaiah,
vol. 1, E. J. Young, 362).
Po-TA-toe;
po–ta-toe.
Every nation is the same and falls to the
sovereignty of Assyria. Or, so they
thought.
The Assyrians go on to say that they have
conquered peoples with greater carved images – idols – gods – than Jerusalem
and Samaria – Israel and Judah – so the Assyrians will conquer their God and
take Jerusalem.
They make this claim quite specifically
when they finally do attack Jerusalem:
“Has any of the gods of the nations ever
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 Ivvah? Have
they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have
delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem
out of my hand?’” (II Kings 18:33-35, ESV).
“We have defeated Hamath and Arpad and
their gods and the nations of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah, and we will defeat
Jerusalem and YHWH, because YHWH is no different from any of the other gods!”
Oh really?
They, apparently, did not know their Old
Testament history. They didn’t have the
wisdom and patience of Gamaliel:
We remember that Peter and the Apostles
were beaten for preaching Jesus after the Day of Pentecost and told not to
speak of Jesus any more, and they said that they couldn’t do that – they had to
preach Jesus.
And then we read:
“”When [the Sanhedrin] heard this, they
were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a Pharisee in the council named
Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and
gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. And he said to them, ‘Men
of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these
days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four
hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and
came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census
and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who
followed him were scattered. So in the present case I tell you, keep away from
these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man,
it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You
might even be found opposing God!’ So they took his advice, and when they had
called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the
name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And
every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching
and preaching that the Christ is Jesus” (Acts 5:33-42, ESV).
The Sanhedrin wanted to kill the Apostles
because they were a nuisance and could cause a riot, but Gamaliel had the
wisdom to say, “Let’s give this some time and see what’s going on. If they’re frauds, the movement will probably
peter out, but if they are right…if this is from God…”
God is Sovereign over everything that
happens, and I would guess that most Christians would agree with that – at
least to begin with. But when we say
that everything – everything – happens according to God’s plan – there are no
accidents – every moment of every day, every molecule of your being, every
leader of every nation, every direction a fish turns to swim in – everything –
everything – has been planned by God – predestined by God – is happening according
to His Will – some people want to back off and say, “well, God’s not THAT
Sovereign.”
R. C. Sproul says, “If there is one
maverick molecule – in all of Creation – God is not Sovereign.”
Now, having said that, we need to be
careful not to attribute sin to God. God
doesn’t sin and doesn’t make anyone sin.
We have to speak with wisdom about why
things happen. Did God plan for the 9/11
attacks to occur? Absolutely. God allowed the terrorists to carry out their
plans and did not stop them. Why not? I don’t know.
There may be many reason why God does certain things and allows
others. We must be careful in what we
say.
Here, we are told that God uses the evil
Assyrians to discipline Israel and Judah by not stopping their attacking and
conquering them. God desired Israel and
Judah to repent and return to Him – which is good. The Assyrians wanted to conquer them for
their own sake and said that all peoples and all gods are the same – that is
evil.
So one act can be done for more than one
reason – for both good and evil reasons.
The Apostles – according to the Scripture – were taken and beaten by
members of the Sanhedrin who did not believe that Jesus is God – that was evil. Yet, God allowed the Apostles to be beaten so
that they would be encouraged and give thanks that God considered them worthy
to suffer for Jesus and His Gospel – that was good.
Second, we are responsible for our
actions.
“When the Lord has finished all his
work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart
of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done it, and
by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and
plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. My
hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs
that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none
that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.’
God planned for the Assyrians to
bring God’s Wrath against Israel and Judah for their sin. The Assyrians’ evil desire to conquer and
God’s good plan to discipline His people resulted in the same act. However, just because God’s plan was good and
Israel and Judah were disciplined, does not mean that the Assyrians are not to
be punished for their sin.
God says that once He has finished
His work on Zion and Jerusalem, He will punish the Assyrians for their
sin. The Assyrians not only sinfully
desired to destroy Israel and Judah – the people of God – they were utterly pompous
and arrogant.
The Assyrians boasted that
everything they did they did by their own strength and without help from
anyone.
They said that their innate wisdom
gave them knowledge and understanding of all things.
All by themselves with no help from
anyone or anything, they conquer nations and take their treasures and sit on
their thrones.
“Conquering nations is as easy as taking
an egg from a nest. No one can stop us. All the wealth of the nations is ours. And no one opens their mouth to object or to
try to stop us. We are the captains of
our fate!”
What do we read in the Scripture?
“‘In him we live and move and have our
being’;’” (Acts 17:28a, ESV).
Without God willing or allowing what we do
– whether good or evil – we could not live or move or exist.
That means that each person exists and
does what he or she does because God wills or allows it. We cannot succeed at anything unless God
gives us success. Everything we are and
do is either willed or allowed by God.
However, we are responsible for our
actions. As God says, “Fathers shall not
be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death
because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy
24:16, ESV). Each person is responsible for his or her actions before God.
And so, even though the Assyrians were the
Lord’s instrument to discipline Israel and Judah, their intent was sin and they
had to bear the debt and the punishment for their sin.
God mocks the Assyrians for their sinful
arrogance:
“Shall the axe boast over him who hews
with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod
should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not
wood!”
If God used the Assyrians as an axe, would
the axe have a right to boast of itself to God?
It is as though the axe said, “Look at the mighty tree that I chopped
down, all by myself with no help from anyone!”
If God used the Assyrians as a saw, would
the saw have a right to boast of itself to God?
It is as though the saw said, “Look at all the pieces of wood I cut, all
by myself with no help from anyone!”
It is as though a rod would tell the one
who strikes with it that the rod did all the work, all by itself, or it is as
though a staff told the one who used it that the staff did all the work, all by
itself.
It would be as though you write a check to
put in the offering, and the pen boasted of what it did in writing the check,
all by itself, with no help from anyone else.
This is what it is like when we close our
eyes to the intimate, absolutely Sovereignty of God over all things, and our
responsibility to pay the debt for our sins when we sin.
The claims of the Assyrians are
ridiculous. The Assyrians are under
divine punishment for their sin.
Why shall we do with all of this?
Well, it ought to be a comfort to us –
believers – that God is always, intimately involved with everything in history
everywhere, all the time. Nothing slips
God’s attention, because He is involved in everything – but He does not sin.
God did not create everything and walk
away. God is not looking at us watching
and waiting to see what happens as through the glass looking at a
fishbowl. This is all God’s plan and we
are involved in it.
Knowing these things should also make us
eternally thankful to God for all that we have and all that we are comes from
His Fatherly Hand – even when we need discipline. If you can breathe – thank God. If you can walk – thank God. If you have money, a home, friends, food –
thank God for everything has been given to you as part of God’s plan.
It should also make us quick to confess
our sins. God has known since before the
Creation of the world every sin you and I would commit, and He sent His Son
Jesus to pay the debt for them and to give us His righteousness. There is no need to hide or to pretend we
didn’t sin or to hope God didn’t see or hear what we did – God knows. He has always known. And He calls His children to repent and
return to Him through His Son.
Have hope – the God of our salvation has
sworn that not one sparrow can fall from the sky unless He wills it or allows
it – how much more does He care for those His Son died for?
And let us be diligent in striving towards
holiness. Stop being lax about sin. Be angry and frustrated about your sin – go
to God and ask for forgiveness and the guidance and strength to keep from sin
and to do all that God has commanded going forth. Again and again – strive for holiness. And God will forgive you and help you. God will forgive me and help me.
So, let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You that You are
involved in every breath we take and every moment and movement and thought
throughout time and space. Comfort us
and give us hope as we know You to be the God Who is Immanuel – God with us –
now and always – with everyone who confess Jesus, Your Son, our God and
Savior. And as God the Holy Spirit works
in us, we ask that we would be honest about our sins, repent of them quickly,
and seek His strength to strive for holiness with everything that we are. Be pleased with us, Your children, and fill
us with Your joy. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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