The Assyrian Rod – Part 2
Isaiah 10:5-34 (20-23)
May 21, 2023
You are well aware that we are in this section of Isaiah (ch 7-12)
In which we are discussing the salvation of the remnant.
We have seen CONTRASTS between the remnant and the rabble
And we are CURRENTLY looking at
The means by which God is saving the remnant.
And that means is through what we call “The Assyrian Rod”
Isaiah 10:5 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation,”
Assyria is very simply the “rod” which God is using
Both to punish the rabble and to save the remnant.
The term “rod” shouldn’t be unfamiliar, it is used often in Scripture.
It is perhaps most famous in our understanding of disciplining children.
We have all heard the saying, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”
Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”
Proverbs 23:13 “Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.”
Proverbs 29:15 “The rod and reproof give wisdom, But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.”
Certainly such wisdom is increasingly absent from our culture,
But as in all things the word of God certainly knows best.
Mankind, born as a descendant of Adam,
Is born with foolishness within them.
That DOESN’T MEAN they are born dumb.
That ISN’T even speaking about ignorance, though they don’t know anything at birth.
“Foolishness” speaks of rebellion.
A child is born with Adam’s rebellion deeply seated in their heart.
• A child isn’t born naturally compliant or submissive.
• They don’t come out of the womb respecting authority
• They aren’t born doing what they are told.
Infants exit the wound with the idea that they are in charge
And that their surroundings are meant to satisfy their desires.
And if you don’t notice it in an infant, you will certainly see it in a TODDLER.
They are dripping with insubordination and rebellion,
Which the bible refers to as “foolishness”.
(“a fool has said in his heart that there is no God”)
Fortunately God has taught us the means of extracting such foolishness and it is “the rod of discipline”
We are told as parents, not to hold back such discipline
And that even if you strike your son with the rod, he won’t die.
Proverbs 10:13 “On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found, But a rod is for the back of him who lacks understanding.”
When your child doesn’t understand how to live,
The rod is meant to help him learn.
IN FACT, that rod will help impart to that child the wisdom (submission to authority) that he needs in order to live this life according to the will of God.
THE ROD IS A GOOD THING.
Proverbs 13:24 “He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.”
It is not hard to see how the neglect of the rod in our culture
Has produced a generation of rebellion.
This is just basic understanding of how to deal with sinful man.
They must be taught submission to authority
And they are often taught it
Through the pain that is associated with the rod.
What is more, we rest assured that
The God who taught us to use the rod
Most certainly uses it as well.
He uses it to punish sin.
Psalms 89:32 “Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes.”
Psalms 2:9 “‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
And it can be a SEVERE tool to say the least.
Job 9:34 “Let Him remove His rod from me, And let not dread of Him terrify me.”
In all the times I have had to use the rod on my children,
• No one was harder to restrain than Hannah,
• But no one wanted to debate more than Zech.
Often times he would say, “But it’s gonna hurt!”
And I would say, “If everything goes according to plan it will.”
And this is also how God operates.
The writer of Hebrews taught this to his people quite thoroughly.
Hebrews 12:5-7 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”
“discipline” – “reproved” – “scourges”
God at times uses the rod, not only to judge the wicked
But even to discipline the remnant.
And that is most certainly the purpose behind His sending Assyria.
LAST SUNDAY NIGHT we started looking at this Assyrian rod.
We talked about how by this point Assyria had already wiped out the Northern Kingdom.
• You can read about that in 2 Kings 17:1-23
And we talked about how Assyria has now invaded the Southern Kingdom and has reached even to Jerusalem and is threatening her.
• You can read about that in 2 Kings 18:13-37
Assyria is a ruthless nation.
One commentator referred to them as “The Nazis of the Ancient East”
Our study of Jonah should remind you that they were so ruthless
That Jonah thought them to be beyond deserving redemption.
• They used to behead their enemies and pile their heads up at the city gates.
• They would skin their enemies, sometimes alive and drape their skins over the
city walls.
• They were vile and evil people who were ruthless in their judgments.
And now they were afflicting Israel.
And we looked LAST TIME at 4 realities of this Assyrian Rod.
Let me refresh your memory real quickly.
1) HIS PRESENCE (5-6)
• Assyria is called “the rod of My anger”
• He is called “the staff in whose hands is My indignation.”
In short, the reason he is here is because God has put him here.
He is doing the Lord’s work.
God said, “I send it against a godless nation”
And of course He was referring to Israel.
Assyria was the rod that God would use
To strike the back of the nation of Israel.
Assyria was a mad dog, but they were a mad dog on a chain.
God would not let them do all that they desired.
2) HIS PLAN (7-11)
Clearly God sent Assyria to punish.
Assyria however wanted to totally destroy.
They fancied themselves to be unstoppable.
• They had no idea that God was the One using them.
• They thought they were acting according to their own will.
Such is always true of evil men.
• The Pharisees and Chief Priests thought the crucifixion was their idea.
• They thought they pulled it off.
• And the reality is that God had planned it from the foundation of the world.
Sometimes God allows evil men to do evil things
But He allows it to the accomplishment of His own purposes.
Evil world rulers should recognize this, but they never do.
3) HIS PRIDE (12-15)
The sheer repetition of the words “I” and “my” there
Tell us everything we need to know.
The king of Assyria thinks it is his might and his power
That has brought about all his victories.
The reality however is that God was doing by His strength.
2 Kings 19:25-26 “‘Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ‘Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up.”
The king of Assyria was full of pride.
Nothing more than a tool in the hands of God.
4) HIS PUNISHMENT (16-19)
God promised to bring this arrogant wild dog to the ground.
And indeed He did.
• In the middle of the night God would enter his camp and kill 185,000 of his men.
• The king would retreat to Assyria where he would be assassinated in the temple of his false god.
God never intended to just let this boastful Assyrian
Do heinous crimes without punishment.
HE WAS PUNISHED.
In fact, he ended up in hell.
Isaiah 10:18 “And He will destroy the glory of his forest and of his fruitful garden, both soul and body, And it will be as when a sick man wastes away.”
Isaiah spoke of the destruction of “both soul and body”
And Jesus taught us there is only One who can do that.
Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Isaiah gave us a great explanation as to why the king of Assyria was here.
God brought him, God used him,
And when God is finished with him, God will take him out.
But it left us with a question:
WHY DID GOD BRING HIM?
And that is in reality the 5th truth that Isaiah reveals.
5) HIS PURPOSE (20-23)
“Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.”
The truth we learn is that
God was using Assyria to save the remnant.
• He was using Assyria as a rod to extract the foolishness of those whom He was saving.
• He was using Assyria to impart wisdom to those He was planning to save.
AND THIS MORNING I want us to discuss this reality a little bit.
We actually learn here that
There were 3 reasons why God swung the Assyrian rod.
Let’s look at them this morning.
#1 TO CONFRONT THE RELIANCE OF THE REMNANT
Isaiah 10:20
We see how Isaiah TIES the transformation that will occur in the remnant
DIRECTLY TO the invasion of Assyria.
IMAGINE having a child that is totally out of control,
And then the next day he is respectful and behaving properly.
And someone wants to know WHAT HAPPENED to make such a change.
And the parent says, “He got a whipping last night”
You would say, “Last night his entire perspective changed”
“in that day” his entire perspective changed.
SO IT IS HERE.
Assyria was the rod.
“Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them”
Now you see the bad behavior that was in need of correction.
Israel, and Judah had both sought to rely on Assyria for salvation.
Hosea spoke of the northern kingdom’s reliance.
Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to King Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your wound.”
Hosea 7:11 “So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.”
Certainly you are aware of King Ahaz
• How when Aram and Israel made an alliance and threated to invade Judah, how he reached out also to the king of Assyria for deliverance.
• How he even visited Assyria and copied their altar and replaced God’s altar with it.
In a time when both nations should have trusted God,
They decided to place their trust in this foreign king.
Enamored with his military might…
Enamored with his strength…
They saw him to be the savior they needed.
The word “rely” in the Hebrew is SHAW-AN
It means “to rest on or lean on or to trust in”
When Abraham greeted the angelic messengers who were going to destroy Sodom:
Genesis 18:4 “Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree;”
“rest” there is SHAW-AN
When Samson sought to get his revenge on the Philistines:
Judges 16:26 “Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.”
“lean” there is SHAW-AN
When Zera the Ethiopian brought his million-man army up to battle against King Asa, Asa prayed:
2 Chronicles 14:11 “Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “LORD, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O LORD our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”
“trust” there is SHAW-AN
• It spoke of resting under someone’s protection.
• It spoke of leaning upon someone’s strength.
• It spoke of trusting in someone’s deliverance.
Israel should have been doing all of those things with God,
But instead they were doing all that with Assyria.
It was Assyria they sought to trust and lean on and rest in.
AND IT INFURIATED GOD.
So in a work of irony, God used Assyria (their hope)
To be the one he used to punish them.
And the EFFECT of the Assyrian punishment
Was that the people would stop relying on the Assyrian for help.
“Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them.”
Have you ever trusted in something that proved to be a bad decision?
• The shame or humiliation or even outright pain of such a mistake will cause
you not to trust in those things again.
THAT IS WHAT GOD WAS DOING.
Israel relied on the wrong thing and God used Assyria
To confront their idolatrous reliance on Assyria.
But that was ONLY PART of the reason for the discipline.
Isaiah goes on to say, “but will truly rely upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.”
Certainly we recognize there “the Holy One” that Isaiah saw.
• Remember how Isaiah had pronounced himself to be “a man of unclean lips”
• And how he said, “I live among a people of unclean lips”?
Remember what that meant?
It was Isaiah’s confession that he was a hypocrite.
It was Isaiah’s confession that he had been a phony.
Isaiah 29:13 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,”
Isaiah had his lips cleansed that day.
• Remember the angel took a burning coal from the altar and touched his lips and purified them.
Isaiah’s lips were clean, but the people’s weren’t.
To purify their lips or to cleanse their heart God was sending Assyria.
And after Assyria they “will truly rely upon the LORD”
That word “truly” is the one that catches our attention.
• Up until now it had all been lip service.
• Up until now it had all been empty religion.
Who could forget chapter 1 and how God addressed their worthless religion?
• “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?”
• “I have had enough of burnt offerings”
• “Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?”
• “Bring your worthless offerings no longer”
• “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts”
These people had a very religious outward involvement.
• They looked like people who relied on the Lord.
• They looked like people who trusted Him for provision and deliverance and forgiveness and salvation.
But it was all a show.
It was all phony.
“this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me”
THEY DIDN’T “truly rely upon the LORD”
And that became evident on the day when hardship arose.
As soon as it got tough they showed who they really trusted.
And it infuriated God.
• That was an offense!
• That was blatant rebellion!
• That was insubordination of the highest order!
WHY? Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
It is clear violation of the FIRST COMMANDMENT.
It is also a clear violation of the GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Israel had rebelled.
• They didn’t really trust Him.
• They didn’t totally rely on Him.
So God punished them with the very thing they trusted instead of Him.
I had a friend several years ago who brought a brand new silver belly hat. He was proud of it. And then his new golden retriever chewed it to pieces. So my friend whipped that dog with that chewed up hat.
THAT IS WHAT GOD IS DOING HERE.
You are relying on the wrong thing.
GOD IS CONFRONTING THAT FALSE RELIANCE.
To confront the reliance of the remnant
#2 TO COERCE THE RETURN OF THE REMNANT
Isaiah 10:21-22a
• NOT ONLY did the remnant need to see the error of their ways in having trusted in the king of Assyria,
• BUT THEY ALSO needed to see the necessity of returning to the One they had dishonored.
(21) “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”
In a simple sense the verse is clear.
• After God whips them with Assyria they will come running to Him.
But I also hope you see how Isaiah is tying all this together.
Do you remember when Aram and Israel first made that alliance and first threated Judah? (It was way back in chapter 7.)
And you remember
• How Ahaz went out to the upper conduit to check the city water supply
• And Isaiah met him there to tell him to trust God.
• And when Isaiah went he took his son with him.
Do you remember that boy’s name? “Shear-Jashub”
And his name meant: “A remnant will return”
Through Isaiah God stated at the very beginning
What the goal of this whole situation was.
From the beginning God was at work to turn His people around.
But you notice also the direction of their return.
They were return to Him; “to the mighty God”
And I hope that rings a bell with you too.
For when Isaiah spoke of this coming King who would reign on David’s throne he told us His name.
Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
One of the names He will be called is “Mighty God” (El Gibhor)
The whole purpose of what God is doing through Assyria
Is to first break Israel’s reliance on that false savior
And then to send them running to the true Savior.
God IS NOT JUST revealing His remnant through the Assyrian rod,
God is saving His remnant through the Assyrian rod.
That chastisement was meant to produce an awareness and a repentance.
They were to feel the sting of their failure and then run to the true Savior.
This, incidentally, is the very thing Peter preached in Jerusalem.
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
Peter said, “You’ve trusted the wrong savior long enough, why don’t you repent and run to the true one?”
What was the wrong savior they had trusted in Peter’s day?
• It was the Law.
• It was their own ability to keep the Law.
• It was their own religion and good works.
• They trusted in their own goodness.
And I might add, that God did the same thing with them
To break their reliance and send them to Christ.
Do you remember Romans 7?
• Do you remember how God used the Law to first crush Paul and then to drive him to Jesus?
Paul trusted in the Law as his means of salvation
So God used the Law to beat him.
God did it with one command: “Thou shalt not covet”
The command destroyed Paul.
Romans 7:9-11 “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”
Remember how Paul then tried his best to use the Law to save himself?
Romans 7:14-15 “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.”
He could read that command about coveting every night
But it never helped him overcome his sin. It just continually beat him.
He could no longer rely on that which struck him.
And so Paul repented and turned to Christ.
Romans 7:24-25 “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”
THAT IS WHAT GOD DID HERE.
He used their phony savior to beat them
Until they would finally see the error of their ways
And repent and return and run to Him.
“A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”
But as we have also said, NOT ALL of them returned.
ONLY THE REMNANT.
(22a) “For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return;”
• Not everyone learned the lesson.
• Not everyone quit depending on Assyria.
• Not everyone returned to the LORD.
GOD DIDN’T SAVE EVERYONE.
• He saved the remnant.
• And the remnant was those who repented and returned to Him.
Those who saw that no salvation could be found in Assyria, (or the Law),
Salvation was in the LORD alone; salvation is in Christ alone;
Salvation is in “the mighty God”
INCIDENTALLY Paul seized upon this very truth
When explaining why NOT ALL ISRAEL is saved today.
When Paul opened Romans 9
He opened it with a statement that startled most Jews.
Romans 9:1-3 “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”
Paul revealed that many in Israel are lost and that he prays for their salvation.
This was peculiar to most Jews who assumed that if you were a descendant of Abraham you were automatically saved because of the promises to Abraham.
So when Paul says that some of them are lost, the question is:
Did God lie? Did God not keep His promise?
Romans 9:6-8 “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.”
Paul revealed that not everyone who can trace their lineage back to Abraham is being saved.
• Only those who come through Isaac,
• But that wasn’t a genetic point either for we know that Esau’s line comes from Isaac and they aren’t saved.
When Paul says it comes through Isaac
He means it comes on the basis of faith not works.
Which is what Paul speaks about when he quotes Isaiah.
Romans 9:27-33 “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.” And just as Isaiah foretold, “UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.” What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
What was Paul’s point?
• Gentiles were saved because they fully relied upon Christ.
• Jews were lost because they did not truly rely upon Him.
• They relied upon the Law.
Now, do you see the imagery here that Paul is seizing upon?
Yes Assyria was a real nation that really afflicted Israel
And God used them to punish the Israel and bring them back to Him.
But Paul saw Assyria here as a picture of the Law which afflicted Israel,
And those who learned from it and ran to Christ were saved,
But those who refused to return to Christ were lost.
DO YOU SEE THAT?
God used Assyria to not only confront false reliance
But also to force a return to Himself
And in so doing He would save a remnant. (HE STILL DOES THAT)
He used the Assyrian rod to confront the reliance of the remnant.
He used the Assyrian rod to coerce the return of the remnant.
#3 TO CAUSE THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE REMNANT
Isaiah 10:22b-23
You see again the punishment God brought about.
• (22b) “a destruction is determined”
• (23) “For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.”
Once again you see a reference to that Assyrian rod.
God used them to mightily afflict Israel.
BUT WHY?
(22b) “a destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.”
Hebrews 12:11 “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
THAT IS WHY GOD DISCIPLINES.
But let’s make sure we clearly understand what He is doing.
This is NOT behavior modification,
Though it should certainly change your behavior.
When we think of punishing a child
• We think of changing their behavior from bad to good.
• They lie or disobey so we punish them
• And the objective is that they won’t lie anymore or disobey anymore.
But this is NOT the full purpose of God’s discipline.
For even if you change your behavior are we to assume that your behavior
Will become so spectacular that you will actually become righteous?
NO, GOD DISCIPLINES YOU
• To break your false reliance.
• To cause you to return to Him.
Because in Him alone is found the righteousness you need.
No among of punishment will ever cause you
To finally live holy enough to earn God’s favor.
On the contrary, the only way we become righteous is by the gift of God.
God freely imputes righteousness.
Who does God impute righteousness to?
You find that answer in the 15th chapter of the Bible.
Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
Righteousness is given to us from God when we trust Him.
Romans 3:21-24 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”
Righteousness is given to us when we trust or rely on Him.
• It comes when we rest in Jesus.
• It comes when we lean on Jesus.
• It comes when we trust in Jesus.
• It comes when we “truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.”
God did not use the Assyrian rod to cause Israel to live better.
God used the Assyrian rod to cause Israel to run to Him.
For only in Him is true righteousness found.
GOD USED THE ASSYRIAN ROD TO SAVE THE REMNANT.
Does that cause you to look a little differently on your trials and hardships?
Does that cause you to look a little differently at your discipline?
Charles Spurgeon said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me against the Rock of Ages.”
It also helps you understand what God desires from you in your affliction.
Many times we go through discipline and we wonder,
“What do You want from me? What do You want me to do?”
And the answer is “RETURN…TO THE MIGHTY GOD”
Come to Him. Seek Him.
This is the point of discipline,
That we may run to Him and “share in His holiness”.
That is how He saved the remnant of Israel,
That is how He continues to save the remnant even today.
• He uses the rod to teach us not to rely on faulty saviors.
• He uses the rod to teach us to return to Him.
• He uses the rod to drive us to His righteousness.
DON’T REJECT THE ROD, LEARN FROM IT.
