“His Purposes Stand!” – FBC Morning Light (7/9/2024)

Well, good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're continuing to read in the book of Isaiah in chapters 11 through 14. I want to focus on a section at the end of chapter 14, near the end of chapter 14.

You know, yesterday we talked about how God gave us insight into His control, His sovereign control over even wicked, ruthless, brutal, violent, hostile nations whom He uses for His purposes to bring judgment or chastening or humbling to other nations, okay?

And that's exactly what He did with Assyria, using Assyria in all of their brutality and violence and so forth to bring punishment and judgment upon His people Israel, the ten tribes of Israel to the north.

God’s Sovereign Control Over the Nations

So we talked about that yesterday and just kind of took some encouragement in knowing that God is sovereignly working behind the scenes in human affairs and in the nations of the world. Well, today I want us to see a further truth that it's corollary, but it's brought out in this section in chapter 14, because in the meantime, from what we read yesterday to what we read today, the Lord says that He is going to judge the instruments of His judgment.

In other words, He's going to bring judgment upon the Assyrians. So those who came in and, you know, took His people captive and conquered the land of Israel, He is going to see to it that they, the Assyrians, are destroyed.

And so here's what the Lord says in verse 24 of chapter 14. The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains tread him underfoot.

Then his yoke shall be removed from them, that is, his people, Israel, and his burden removed from their shoulders. So the Lord says, I'm going to conquer the conquerors. And by the way, He does that through some other nation.

This is typically what the Lord does. This is what I mean when I said yesterday about getting insight into the affairs of this world. I think, for example, in World War II, you had Nazi Germany just blitzkrieging, and brutal, and terrifying, and all the rest of that, all kinds of...

France, and Denmark, and the nations around Germany, Austria, and so forth. And it seemed like, boy, they were invincible. England thought, man, can we endure this? And there was a point where they didn't think they maybe could.

But that all turned, the tide all turned, and lo and behold, you had this Allied force of the United States and Russia ending up, well of course with England, Great Britain, ending up bringing the end to the Nazi regime.

And so you look at that in the history book, you read about it in the history book, and you can analyze it from all kinds of ways, and conclude that, well, you know, the United States and our Allied forces, we just were able to be far more effective at building up arms and replacing those arms quickly, and so on and so forth, so that we ended up winning the war.

Well, that is all fine and good from a human perspective, but the insight that God's Word gives us is that he, for his purposes, used the Nazi regime. I'm not going to try to suggest what all those purposes were, that's not my point, but that brutality with which the Nazis engaged in their efforts ended up being brought upon them in defeat by some...well, how did those other nations defeat them?

Well, not because of their military might, but because of God's hand. Okay, so we saw that yesterday, and here today in our reading, again, the Lord says he is going to see to it that the conqueror, Assyria, is conquered.

Just like God saw to it that the conqueror, Nazi Germany, who overthrew, you know, Denmark and France and so forth, is in turn conquered. Okay? God sees to that kind of thing. He's working behind the scenes, his sovereign hand.

The Purposes of the Lord Shall Stand

Now, here's what I wanted to emphasize, and we'll say this in closing, the last couple of verses of this section that I wanted to read in chapter 14. The Lord says this, this is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

What hand? His. His hand. And verse 27, for the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? That's a rhetorical question that demands the answer of, no one. His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

Again, no one. Here's the point, the purposes of the Lord shall stand. No one can change them. No one can alter them. When the hand of the Lord is stretched out, no one can cause his hand to retract and turn it back.

The Lord purposes, he will carry it out. Nobody can alter that. Such is the nature of our sovereign God, who purposes his purposes for his glory and the ultimate good of his people. He stretches out his hand to accomplish his purposes, to bring about his ultimate glory.

And again, let's rejoice in that. Our Father and our God, we thank you again for who you are. We thank you for your power, your sovereignty, your authority, and it is unrivaled, it is unmatched, so that when you purpose something, to accomplish something, to do something, you will carry it out.

It will come to pass. We thank you for your power and authority and your sovereign control today. Bless these thoughts to our hearts, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday.

May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.