THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Isaiah: Jahweh Is Salvation

Part XXIII. Resting On God's Sure Promise Of Deliverance From A Humanly Overwhelming Foe

(Isaiah 14:24-27)

I. Introduction

A. We learned in Isaiah 8:5-8 that the Lord predicted He would bring the Assyrians into the land of Judah like a flood of water that reached even to the neck all because Judah's people had refused to trust in Him, the One likened to the healing spring of Siloam in Jerusalem, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Isaiah 8:6.

B. However, the intent of the Lord was not to use Assyria to destroy Judah, but to get Judah's people instead to trust in the Lord, so Isaiah 14:24-27 provides God's sure promise to destroy Assyria when it entered His land.

C. We view this passage for insight and encouragement on growing in our own faith in the Lord (as follows):

II. Resting On God's Sure Promise Of Deliverance From A Humanly Overwhelming Foe, Isaiah 14:24-27.

A. The dominant emphasis in the Isaiah 14:24-27 section of Isaiah's prophecy is the guarantee of God's promise:

1. The claim in Isaiah 14:24 that the Lord had "sworn" is one of only three such claims in the entire book of Isaiah -- here and again in Isaiah 45:23 and 62:8; Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah, 1974, v. I, p. 448.

2. Twice in this Isaiah 14:24-27 section, at verses 24 and 27, Isaiah refers to God as the "Lord of hosts," and in the context of His judgment on the invading armies of Assyria, this term pictures God's sovereignty over the armies of the Assyrians as Israel's Supreme Divine Warrior. (cf. Isaiah 37:15-17, 36)

3. Isaiah 14:24 claims that just as God had planned or even had thought up the plan involved, so it would certainly occur, indicating He is so sovereign over the matter that nothing can stop Him from performing what He even merely thinks about doing!

4. Twice in this section -- in verses 24b and 27a -- is reference made to the purposes of God standing, or coming to fruition as He has willed.

5. Indeed, Isaiah 14:27b,c rhetorically asks who can annul what God has purposed to occur and who will turn it back after He has set His purpose in motion, indicating that no one can inhibit or block what God wills.

6. God's sovereignty over the whole earth and its nations (Isaiah 14:26) indicates His sovereignty regarding the subject at hand is just a small portion of His immense, worldwide sovereignty over the whole universe.

7. Accordingly, the actual divine promise given in Isaiah 14:24-27 is abundantly guaranteed.

B. That promise was that God would defeat the oppressive Assyrians when they invaded Judah, Isaiah 14:25:

1. As we noted in our lesson introduction, Isaiah 8:5-8 had predicted that the Lord would cause the Assyrians to invade the land of Judah because the people of Judah had failed to trust Him for military protection.

2. However, this invasion would be instructional for the people of Judah, for God would utterly destroy the Assyrians when they arrived in Judah and swarmed over the land like a flood, Isaiah 14:25 with 10:7-8:

a. God promised to break the Assyrian in His land of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, likely referring to His breaking Assyria as His rod to punish the Northern Kingdom of Israel, Isaiah 14:25a with 10:15-16.

b. However, going beyond just defeating the Assyrian invaders, the Lord promised to trample the Assyrians underfoot on His mountains in the land of Judah, to crush them in complete defeat, Isa. 14:25b.

c. Consequently, God's people in Judah would have the Lord remove the yoke of bondage to Assyria and the burden of that invading nation from off of their shoulder, Isaiah 14:25c.

C. This prophecy was later fulfilled in Isaiah 37:36-37: the Angel of the Lord, the Preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ, struck and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a single night outside Jerusalem. Assyria's King Sennacherib then had to return to his city of Nineveh. Then, when he later entered the temple of his false god to worship, he was slain by two of his own sons who in turn fled for their lives to Armenia. Thus, in striking contrast to Judah's king Hezekiah who was heard and delivered by Jahweh from death by Sennacherib, the latter was not heard nor delivered by his false god even from his own sons! (Isaiah 37:15-35; Ibid., Young, v. II, p. 506)

Lesson: God strongly promised the people of Judah that when the seemingly unstoppable Assyrian army invaded and overflowed their land that He as Sovereign God would utterly crush them on the mountains of Judah.

Application: (1) If we face a seemingly overwhelming threat to our welfare that counters God's will for us, He wants us to be sure that He is both sovereign and willing fully to deliver us from the threat that we might grow in our faith in Him. (2) If we face a series of seemingly overwhelming threats to our welfare, God is likely seeking to have us trust Him more versus our trying to control the circumstances involved in our own futile effort.