OUR FATHER WHO KNOWS THE THOUGHTS OF ALL

Revisiting the book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 10 says this;

As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria—

The verse 11 continues;

shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’”

These words are the thoughts of the king of Assyria as he assessed his plan to take over the realms of God's people.

The king of Assyria felt confident that he would have no issues taking over Jerusalem because their beliefs and practices were indistinguishable from those of the kingdoms he had already conquered.

When he saw that Jerusalem was subject to judgement like any other nation he felt that he could overrun the kingdom of God on earth with impunity. This haughtiness is what drew the judgement of God against him and his ultimate destruction.

Verse 12 says it like this;

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO JUDGES ALL 

Continuing on from the  book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 14, we now look at a pivotal point in the narrative which says this;

Does the ax raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it?

As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

The whole earth, having been subtly taken over by the king of Assyria, is now fully subjugated to the kingdom of darkness without the inhabitants even realizing that their sovereignty has been lost.

It is here that the objection of God to the whole enterprise of darkness is noted.

The king of Assyria had been set in his position to act as an agent of judgement against the Lord's people.

It was from this vantage point that the Assyrian saw an opportunity to pre-emptively make a grab at the whole world and gain total control of the planet so that his will would set the agenda for everything that occured on the earth.

However, the God of Israel questions the appropriation of the authority of directive by a mere instrument.

Mentioning four impliments as metaphors for the purposes to which Assyria was being employed, the Lord lists them as follows;

• Axes to topple kingdoms
• Saws to cut nations apart
• Rods to punish nations
• Clubs to unlease destruction on nations

These tools, deployed to bring various aspects of God's judgement to the nations, begin to see their role as an opportunity to disregard the intention of the one who wielded them and take entire control of the globe.

They bypass the intention of God and grab for the spoils.

Have mercy on us Oh God.

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OUR FATHER WHO IS OUR ONLY HOPE

The book of Isaiah 10 verse 14 says this;

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’”

This verse, a continuance of the king of Assyria's thoughts, reveals what he felt the experience of usurping the whole world was akin to.

Having identified that the nest had no guardian, a person slips his hand serepticiously into a nest to take the eggs and similarly, the usurper, noticing the world systems were operating on a trust system, took advantage of their unguarded state and quietly funneled the wealth of nations to himself using pretexts that hid the scale of the theft and the recipient of the wealth.

Then, using the acquired wealth, encircled the globe gathering nation into his dominion like a person gathering abandoned eggs.

Any leaders who were potential opponents to the usurper, found themselves being tricked into taking actions that were then used to discredit them and render them powerless while their nations were quietly taken over by the king of Assyria.

All the world's countries fell into the hands of the anti-Christ and not a single nation fluttered a wing to resist and not a single nation chirped to warn of the methodical takeover by the totalitarian rule of the kingdom that is underway.

Such is the snare the people of the earth unknowingly walked into and even while trapped in the web of deception and being pressed on every side, they did not know that the earth had been ceded over the the enemy of their souls.

The only hope was an intervention by the Lord.

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OUR FATHER WILL FRUSTRATE  THE PLANS OF THE KING OF ASSYRIA

The book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 13 says this;

For he says: “‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.

I removed the boundaries of nations,  I plundered their treasures;  like a mighty one I subdued their kings.

This verse reveals the thoughts of the king of Assyria as he surveyed his plans as they unfurled around the world.

He attributed his success to his personal strength and action.  He also attributed his success to his wisdom which he said was based on his own personal understanding.

The hallmarks of the Assyrian's plot to bring the whole world into subjugation to himself were these three strategies;

• The erasure of national borders and national identities to create amorphous populations with no sense of their own history or future
• Ransacking national treasuries using deception and collusion to weaken the nations and fund his conquests
• Bringing the kings of the earth under his control using tools of lawfare, fraud, usurpation, intimidation and spiritual attacks

All these action were carried out using subterfuge and the control of information so that most people were unable to discern that their nations have been taken over by the powers of darkness. 

As such, the Assyrian was able to claim in verse 14 that one by one he took the wealth of the nations and then took the nations into his hand and this was done so subtly that none was able to perceive and as such, no objections were made.

As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as people gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.’”

The Lord God Almighty will interrupt the scheme of the kingdom of darkness and the agents who serve to execute the plans of darkness on the nations of the world will be met with calamity from which they cannot escape;

Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.

The Lord is worth of all glory and honor and power forever.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE JUDGEMENT BEGINS IN HIS OWN HOUSE BUT ENDS IN THE HOUSE OF DARKNESS

The book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 12 says this;

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.

Continuing from verse 11 in yesterday's study,  we look at the prophetic promise that the Lord makes in verse 12.

Here, the king of Assyria forms an intention to opportunistically take advantage of the weakened state of Israel due to their ongoing judgement from the Lord.

The prophet Isaiah however, declares that when the Lord completes His work of judgement against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will then turn His attention to the king of Assyria and punish him for his arrogance and the look of haughtiness in his eyes.

This verse can be distilled to the following precepts;

• The Lord judges Mount Zion, the headquarters of His own Kingdom
• 1 Peter 4 verse 17: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

• The Lord faithfully completes the work He has begun
• Philippians 1 verse 6; being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

• He judges and resists the proud and haughty
• James 4 verse 6; But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

This verse in Isaiah carrys three principals that are embedded in the writings of the new testament.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO PROTECTS THE REMNANT OF HIS PEOPLE

The book of Isaiah chapter 10 verse 11 says this;

shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?’”

The king of Assyria, looking at the nations he was intending to conquer and dominate, assessed that Jerusalem would be brought under his dominion as easily as he brought Samaria under control.

Looking at the idols being venerated in Jerusalem, he concluded that the people of Jerusalem were of the same quality as the people of Samaria who worshipped similar idols.

What the king of Assyria apparently did not realise was that behind the scenes, he had been empowered by the God of Israel to bring judgement upon His own people partly because of theie penchant of forgetting their true God in order to  follow idols.

The king of Assyria did not allow for the fact that the God of Israel had a remnant of His people embedded in Jerusalem and that it was for the sake of these that that God would truncate the ambitions of the king of Assyria. As verse 12 says;

When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. 

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO JUDGES THE JUDGES

The book of Isaiah chapter 10 verses 1 - 2 says this?

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.

The Lord declares that imminent disaster is approaching the legal realm of the nation of Israel because of the injustice and opression that they had enacted into law.

The legislators and magistrates and administrators had undertaken to create a corrupt environment supported by unjust laws.

 They had issued decrees that overrode the intrinsic rights of the poor and they had set themselves up to be able to exploit the widows and the fatherless with impunity.

But even though the vulnerable members of society seemed defenceless, they had a defender who was stirred to anger because of the culture of corruption that had entrenched itself in the land. 

The Lord, confronting those who had enriched themselves at the expense of the voiceless in the land, says this in verses 3 - 4;

What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?

Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain.Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.

Amen.

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