WWUTT 1879 His Anger Does Not Turn Back (Isaiah 9:8-10:14)

The Lord rebuked Israel for their arrogance and brought judgment against them using the

Assyrians to do it. But the Assyrians were not in the clear. The Lord would eventually bring judgment against them as well, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. On Thursday, we've been studying through the book of Isaiah, and today we're going to pick up where we left off two weeks ago.

The last passage that I read was that famous scripture from Isaiah 9, prophesying the coming

Messiah. To us, a child will be born. To us, a son will be given.

There in Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. So we're picking up from there, and I'm actually going to try to go all the way through chapter 10.

So this is a pretty good chunk of text we'll cover today. In Isaiah 9, verse 8, through chapter 10, verse 4,

Yahweh speaks against Israel for their arrogance. In chapter 10, verse 5, through verse 19,

Yahweh proclaims against Assyria, whom he brings against Israel. And then finally, at the close of chapter 10, we have the promise of a remnant.

So this passage, divided up into these three sections, lets hear the voice of Yahweh against Israel in Isaiah chapter 9, beginning in verse 8 from the

Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. The Lord sends a message against Jacob, and it falls on Israel, and all the people know it.

That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, saying in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart,

The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stones. The sycamores have been cut in pieces, but we will replace them with cedars.

Therefore, Yahweh exalts against them adversaries from resin and incites their enemies.

The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west. And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.

In spite of all this, his anger does not turn back, and his hand is still stretched out.

Yet the people do not turn back to him who struck them, nor do they seek Yahweh of hosts.

So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel, both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

The head is the elder and the highly respected man, and the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

For those who guide this people are leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

Therefore the Lord is not glad in their choice men, nor does he have compassion on their orphans or their widows.

For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.

In spite of all this, his anger does not turn back, and his hand is still stretched out.

That statement comes up four times in this section. We read it in verse 12, in verse 17, in verse 21, and in chapter 10 verse 4.

In spite of all this, his anger does not turn back, and his hand is still stretched out.

What does that mean? So we have in these four sections this judgment that's being brought against Israel, and even though Israel will be afflicted in this way, it doesn't satisfy the wrath of God against Israel.

So his anger does not turn back, and therefore his hand is still stretched out, meaning that he still brings judgment against Israel.

So each one of these things, referencing judgment, and yet because of that phrase we're going to read about more judgment that comes to Israel.

All of these things are also parallelisms. Remember I've said before regarding Hebrew poetry that they implement a device called a parallelism, which is the same phrase said twice in a slightly different way.

So we see it here in verse 8 at the start of the section. The Lord sends a message against Jacob, and it falls on Israel.

Jacob and Israel are the same. Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and everybody who is a descendant of Jacob is therefore

Israel, the nation of Israel. So the message is against Jacob, and that message is falling on Israel.

The message it was sent to is who it falls on. And all the people know it. That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria sing in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart.

So you have kind of the middle section of Israel and the northern section.

All of the northern kingdom is being encompassed in that, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria saying in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart, the bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with cut stones.

The sycamores have been cut in pieces, but we will replace them with cedars. So we've read about God's judgment brought against them before, and they have already suffered affliction even before this continued judgment that came against Israel.

Though their bricks have been thrown down, which were not great rocks to begin with, they're going to rebuild with cut stones, and we're going to come back better.

We're going to build back better. That's what Israel is proclaiming. Yeah, the sycamores have been cut down.

We're going to plant some cedars. We're going to be stronger than we were before. And so because this is their arrogance, they're not learning from the judgment that came against them.

They're not turning back to Yahweh. So because of this, Yahweh exalts adversaries against them and incites their enemies.

The people do not turn back to him who struck them, nor do they seek Yahweh of hosts. So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel.

He cuts off the leaders, the elders, and we've read about this earlier in Isaiah, in chapter three, where it was talked about how the leaders would be cut off and people would be looking for someone who will lead them.

You have head and tail cut off. The prophet is referred to as the tail. So there will not be a leader, no one to issue judgment, no wise man in Israel, nor is there going to be a prophet who actually hears the word of God and communicates it to these people.

Those who guide this people are leading them astray. And the section goes as far to say, God is not even going to have compassion on the orphans and the widows.

Because even these orphans and widows are godless evil doers and their mouths speak wicked foolishness.

There was a several years ago where I made a statement online that just because a person is poor, that does not inherently mean they're going to receive the kingdom of God.

The poor do not automatically get the kingdom of God. And there were people who were responding to me trying to point out where Jesus said the poor will receive the kingdom of God.

And I said, of course, I believe that because they believe in Christ, but they don't receive the kingdom of God just because they're poor.

And when we read in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, it says, blessed are the poor in spirit.

So the reference to the poor being blessed is those who are poor before Christ, who are needy beggars, recognizing that we receive nothing without the blessing and the mercy of God.

So everyone, even orphans and widows, need to come before God and beg for his forgiveness and his righteousness.

The attitude in Israel right here is that there is none righteous, not even one.

No one is seeking for the Lord. And so his hand is against them. His anger does not turn back and his hand is still stretched out.

Now that's the section I've read thus far. Let's pick up in verse 18. For wickedness burns like fire.

We continue to have described for us here the wickedness that that that reigns in Israel.

It consumes briars and thorns. It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

By the fury of Yahweh of hosts, the land is burned up and the people are like fuel for the fire.

No man spares his brother. Now get what's being talked about there. So at the start of verse 18, wickedness burns like fire.

At the end of 19, no man spares his brother. So the judgment of God upon Israel is even their own wickedness.

As judgment comes upon Israel, they fall more and more into more evil deeds.

And those evil deeds are done against one another. They're even consuming each other because God has cast them into confusion.

Verse 20, they slice off what is on the right hand, but still are hungry and they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied.

Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm. So it doesn't mean that they're cannibalizing themselves like literally, but it's a picture to say that they are consuming themselves.

They're devouring one another. And this because God has cast them into this state due to their rebellion against the

Lord. Manasseh devours Ephraim. That's verse 21. And those are brothers.

Remember, those were the descendants of Joseph. His two sons were Manasseh and Ephraim. So this reference means that the brothers are devouring each other and Ephraim Manasseh and together they are against Judah.

In spite of all this, his anger does not turn back and his hand is still stretched out.

Now here's the last part of this section. The fourth stanza, we might call it chapter 10 verses one through four, woe to those who enact evil statutes and to those who constantly record mischief.

So as to turn the poor away from their cause and rob the afflicted of my people of their justice so that widows may be their spoil and that they may plunder the orphans.

Again, just full consumption going on here. Now what will you do in the day of visitation and in the devastation, which will come from afar to whom will you flee for help?

And where will you leave your glory? Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives or fall among those killed.

In spite of all this, his anger does not turn back and his hand is still stretched out.

So they will totally consume one another and yet God's wrath will not be satisfied.

It will still burn against this people who had rebelled against the Lord. This is

God's declaration against Israel for their arrogance. Now here the Lord speaks against a

Syria in verses five through 19. We'll consider this as we go. So in verse five, woe to a

Syria, the rod of my anger and the staff in whose hands is my indignation.

The Lord was using a Syria to punish his people, but that doesn't mean that God's favor is with a

Syria. Verse six, I send it against a godless nation and command it a

Syria against the people of my fury to capture spoil and to seize plunder and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

But did it does not intend to act in this way and it does not think in its heart in this way.

Rather, what is in its heart is to destroy and to cut off many nations. All this to say,

God is using this nation, but that doesn't mean their hearts are for the Lord. Verse eight, for it says, are not my princes all kings?

Is not Calno like Carchemish or Hamath like Arpad or Samaria like Damascus?

As my hand is reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose graven images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall

I not do to Jerusalem and her images just as I have done to Samaria and her idols?

So as this judgment has come upon Israel, so the judgment is going to come upon Judah.

The warning of that judgment that will come against them as well. Now, where we read previously about God burning in his anger against Israel, and it would say continually in spite of all this, his anger does not turn back and his hand is still stretched out.

Israel, that northern kingdom was never restored. So God's consumption of them really was total.

Yeah, there was there was a remnant that was intermixed with the

Mesopotamians and the other people that got moved into that northern kingdom, and then they became the

Samaritans. So they're mutts. They're like a mix of various nationalities, hence why the

Jews don't care for Samaritans and vice versa during the time of Christ. But as a people, they were not preserved.

So those ten tribes, the northern tribes of Israel, were consumed in God's anger and they ceased to be.

So the Lord gives this warning against Jerusalem. As I've consumed the north,

I'll do the same to Judah so that they would fear God and repent. God will bring this judgment against even

Jerusalem and her images. So verse 12, so it will be that when the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, Mount Zion is

Mount Moriah. It's the place where the temple was. He will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of his eyes, which are raised high.

For he has said by the power of my hand and by my wisdom,

I did this for I have understanding and I removed the boundaries of the peoples and plundered their treasures.

And like a mighty man, I brought down their inhabitants and my hand reached for the wealth of the peoples like a nest.

And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth and there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped.

Now this is in reference to the king of Assyria. That's the king of Assyria who's been speaking there, taking credit for himself, boasting in himself.

Verse 15 is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it is the saw to magnify itself over the one who wields it.

That would be like a rod wielding those who lift it or like a staff lifting him who is not wood.

That's a great picture there. So does the axe boast in itself? The axe boast over the one who is holding the axe?

Of course not. That's absurd. So who is Assyria to boast over the one who wields it?

Who is the king of Assyria to exalt himself above the place of Yahweh? Assyria has succeeded against Israel and even comes against Judah because God allows it because he has decreed it, not because the king of Assyria or that nation is great.

They are instruments in the Lord's hand to do the work that God means for them to do in bringing judgment against a people who would disobeyed him.

But Assyria by no means is in the clear. The Lord is going to bring judgment against them as well.

So here is Assyria boasting like an axe would boast over the one who wields it. Now let me give some application here in a moment, but we'll finish off this section.

Yahweh's anger with Assyria, verse 16, therefore, the Lord Yahweh of hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria's stout warriors and under his glory, a fire will be kindled like a burning flame and the light of Israel will become a fire and his holy one, a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

And he will bring to an end the glory of his forest and of his fruitful orchard, both soul and body.

And it will be as when a sick man wastes away. This is describing what's going to happen to Assyria and the rest of the trees of his forest, his being the king of Assyria will be so small in number that a child could write them down.

So all of this to say, Assyria has nothing to boast in itself. The Lord uses it to punish a people who have done wickedly against him.

But then when the instrument attempts to boast over the one who uses it, well,

Yahweh's anger will be burned against the instrument and he will even cast the ax into the fire and have it destroyed.

So even even its land will be consumed the way they go and consume others resources.

So Assyria will be consumed. Now, let me give some application here to something that I've been listening to recently.

So we got a little bit of some section left talking about the remnant that will return. I live in the

United States of America. Most of my listeners live in America, although we do have listeners from all over the world.

And I love that. I love that there are people that live everywhere on the globe listening to when we understand the text.

Thanks for tuning in. But as I live in America, we are seeing right now various enemies that are being positioned against this nation, this let me be clear, this wicked nation, all kinds of evils being perpetrated in the

United States of America that are even deeper and worse than what Sodom and Gomorrah did.

The Lord may very well be using any of these nations positioned against America to bring judgment upon America.

But those nations that come against the United States of America are wicked also, and the

Lord will eventually consume them, too. The Lord has used the U .S. to bring judgment against wicked nations.

But the U .S. is also wicked, and the Lord will bring judgment against us. So what must be our disposition in these days?

We must seek Christ. We must turn to Christ and ask for his forgiveness. And as messengers of the gospel, and as those who warn of the judgment that is to come, we must stand in whatever nation in which we live and warn them of the judgment of God, the wrath of God that burns against all the unrighteousness of man.

God will bring judgment against a people. The only way to be saved is to turn to the

Lord Jesus Christ. You may die. Your body may perish in whatever judgment comes upon a land.

You may be consumed in the judgment that would be brought against your nation, but though they destroy your body, your soul will not perish, and you have nothing to fear of that judgment, because you will be forever with God in glory if you are in Christ Jesus.

I remember back to what we had read in Isaiah chapter 8.

For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

You are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear, and you shall not tremble.

It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy, and he shall be your fear, and he shall be your cause for trembling.

Then he shall become a sanctuary. And so we do not fear the wicked people in the land in which we live.

May we be as Isaiah who trembled before the Lord and said, I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips.

That we may be purified by Christ in these days and live in righteousness and in holiness before him.

And though judgment may be brought upon a people, we will not be consumed in the wrath of God, because in Christ Jesus we will be delivered unto him to live forever in his perfect kingdom where there is no evil, no sin, no temptation.

All of those things will be gone, and all the things that cause us pain and misery, every tear will be wiped from our eyes, and death will be no more, as the scriptures promise.

So continue to hold fast to the promise of Christ and his gospel. Your sins will be forgiven, and you will have everlasting life.

Do not fear this people, and do not fear what they fear, but him, the

Lord, you shall regard as holy. 1 Peter 3, 15, in your hearts set apart

Christ the Lord as holy, always ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within you.

But do this with gentleness and respect, so we must warn this people of the judgment that is to come, that they would turn from their sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ and live. Now, I spent some time talking about that, just proclaiming the gospel, so I didn't get to the remnant portion, and I'm out of time for now.

So that's where we'll pick up. Isaiah 10, verse 20, next week, we'll hear about the remnant, and then from there, the righteous branch, the shoot that springs up from the stem of Jesse, in chapter 11, in reference to Christ.

I hope you'll join me as we continue this study of the book of Isaiah. Let me pray for you. Heavenly Father, as we consider these things that we have read here in Isaiah, I pray for these listeners that they will not fear the things that are happening in the world, though we see such wicked people rising up, and rights in our various nations are being taken away, and we're being consumed by the evil that is happening all around us.

We're tormented in our righteous souls day by day. I pray that would be the condition of these listeners, that they would not give in to the wickedness around them, or even fall into despair, but they would continue to hope in Christ, and look toward the day when we will be with Him forever in glory.

Give us boldness and bravery to declare the gospel in these days, so that other souls may hear it and turn from their sin and be saved.

It is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. This has been When We Understand the

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