(This morning at 8:30, the Lord willing, I will undergo cataract surgery on my right eye. Your prayers will be appreciated. God has certainly blessed the previous surgery, on the left eye. Glory to His Name!)
From early American history, specifically the Revolutionary War, one line comes to mind this morning: “The British are coming! The British are coming!” Alluding to that famous Poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride,” by Longfellow. But … the British were ultimately defeated! (Overcome by the providential Hand of God, many Christian historians believe.)
But much earlier (well over 2,000 years earlier) than the American Revolution, Isaiah the Prophet declared: “The Assyrians are coming! The Assyrians are coming!” Alluding to Isaiah 10:5, King James Version. But … the Assyrians were ultimately defeated as well! (No doubt by the omnipotent Hand of our great God!)
Wow!
Yes, the Assyrian Empire under the leadership of their wicked King Sennacherib, had set its sights set on Israel … then later, on her little sister nation Judah!
We will meet this same aggressive army (and their insolent General named Rabshakeh) later in the Prophecy (Book) of Isaiah, specifically in chapters 36 and 37. What thrilling Bible Texts await us there!
And what “big mouths” these godless people had! (“Godless” is not the best adjective here! They worshipped many “gods,” but not the True God of Israel!)
Here’s an example of their hubris, part of today’s Text: “For he (the Assyrian King) saith, Are not my princes altogether kings? (He boasts that his ‘princes’ were better than anybody else’s ‘Kings.’) Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? (Major cities/nations he has already conquered, or is about to conquer!) As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols (I defeated all their gods!), and whose graven images (idols) DID EXCEL them of Jerusalem and of Samaria (I have whipped far stronger gods than theirs, he thinks!); shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria (the Northern Kingdom) and her idols, so do to Jerusalem (the ‘Apple of God’s Eye,’ the Capital of Judah) and her idols?” Isaiah 10:8-11, sounding like an excerpt from the royal archives!
Pride personified!
Satanic in tone!
King Sennacherib likely did not know the difference between Jehovah God and the hundreds of false idols of the heathen world! He just knew (intoxicated on his own power) he could defeat them all! (Unless, of course, idolatry had become so rampant, even in Judah, that she was by then renown for such open disobedience to the Ten Commandments!)
And … The Assyrians came! The Assyrians came!
But … God defeated them!
Now read with me Isaiah 10:12 please, the rest of today’s Text. Isaiah is speaking, then God is speaking: “Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work (that is, disciplining/chastening/judging Judah for her stubborn sins) upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I (the Lord Himself) will PUNISH the fruit of the STOUT (proud, ‘great’ in his own eyes) HEART of the KING of ASSYRIA, and the glory of his HIGH LOOKS.”
Wow!
Here is God controlling the nations of the world!
Here is Proverbs 21:1 in action: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Amen!
Let me stop writing now and worship a while!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell