185,000 Dead Assyrians
Isaiah 34:1-17
December 17, 2023
The book of Isaiah is broken into two halves.
• The first half is chapters 1-35
• The second half is chapters 40-66
• With only the historical background serving as an interlude in chapters 36-39.
Starting in chapter 33 we have begun wrapping up
The point of the first half of the book.
We talked about what should be learned from the Assyrian invasion.
• What the people in Isaiah’s day should have learned
• What we should have learned.
WE SAW 4 GROUPS ADDRESSED.
• The Destroyer – who should have learned that God does not abandon His people.
• Jerusalem – who should have learned that faith and the fear of the LORD are their greatest treasure.
• The Nations – who should have learned that God does not spare sinners. If He doesn’t spare sinners in Zion then sinners in the world haven’t got a chance.
• The Remnant – who should have learned that the God who delivered them from Assyria will never fail to deliver them in the future.
In many ways we are still on that type of theme.
Chapters 34 & 35 serve to WRAP UP THE MESSAGES of Isaiah
Regarding the Assyrian invasion.
More than anything they’re meant to remind the surviving remnant
That God is for them, He cares for them, He will defend them,
And that despite hardships, salvation is their ultimate fate.
We are about to look at a chapter
• That is as descriptive of God’s furious judgment as any chapter in the Bible,
• And yet the redeemed should read this chapter with gratitude,
• For what God does here in judgment, HE IS DOING FOR YOU.
All you have to do to grasp this is look down at verse 8:
(8) “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
This is what chapter 34 is all about.
It is about the day when God rises up to vindicate His people
Whom the enemy has persecuted and attacked and killed.
• This is a husband who is rising up to vindicate his bride.
• This is a father who is rising up to vindicate his children.
• This is God who is rising up to vindicate His redeemed.
In some ways it reads as a warning to the nations,
But mostly it is a message of encouragement to the people of God
Who are ill-treated in this sin infested world.
It begins with a call to the nations.
• “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!”
• “the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations,”
In short, God announces to the world that He is angry with them.
THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE TITLE OF THE SERMON:
As Isaiah preaches this message he does so with the background of 185,000 dead Assyrians.
• Perhaps their bodies are still scattered throughout their camp.
• Perhaps the residents of Jerusalem have already started piling and burning the
bodies.
Isaiah is preaching a message to the world with the fiery backdrop
Of God having judged those who attacked his people.
And as we read this chapter WE ASK OURSELVES:
Was it a small thing the Assyrians did to the people of God?
• As Assyria annihilated the northern kingdom and hauled her off into exile…
• As Assyria invaded Judah and sacked village after village…
• As Assyria robbed the treasuries of Jerusalem and then broke the covenant…
• As Assyria blasphemed God and threatened Jerusalem’s annihilation…
WAS THAT A SMALL THING?
185,000 dead Assyrians would seem to suggest that it was not.
It was God who said:
Psalms 105:15 “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
Do you remember the story of Abraham?
He was chosen of God even though he was a pagan.
• Abram lacked faith early on and fled to Egypt
• Where he passed his wife off as his sister,
• Pharaoh took Sarai for his own wife.
• It would certainly appear that the fault was all Abram’s.
But do you remember how it played out?
Genesis 12:17 “But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.”
Later when Abraham sojourned in the land of Abimelech,
• Abraham feared because Abimelech had no fear of God
• Again, in order to save his life, proclaimed that Sarah was his sister.
• Again, many have placed the blame at the feet of Abraham.
But read it too:
Genesis 20:3-7 “But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? “Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. “Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”
It is no small thing to attack the people of God.
It is no small thing to persecute the people of God.
AND YET, we live in a world that does that very thing.
Like the Assyrian’s in Isaiah’s day
The church maintains enemies who would long for her eradication.
Psalms 44:22-23 “But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.”
Paul echoed that Psalm in:
Romans 8:35-36 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
He said the same in:
1 Corinthians 4:11-13 “To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.”
And we know Paul was not exaggerating:
2 Corinthians 11:24-27 “Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”
And it certainly wasn’t just Paul.
• Each of the apostles suffered martyr’s deaths.
Several of us have been listening lately to a podcast called
“Men Who Rocked The World” by Steve Lawson (high recommended!)
• Learn about William Tyndale who was strangled, burned at the stake and blown up with gun powder all because he put the Bible in the English language.
• Read about all those protestants like John Rogers who finished Tyndale’s work and who was massacred by bloody Mary. (the rest of the Marian Martyrs)
• Learn about John Bunyan, John Owen, Matthew Henry, Isaac Watts, and many other puritans who were kicked out of their pulpits and forbidden to come within 5 miles of any town. How they were persecuted, imprisoned, martyred and buried in Bunhill fields outside the city.
The world has never stopped hating the church.
As long as Satan roams there has always been an Assyria
And there always will be an Assyria.
It was Jesus Himself who promised:
Matthew 10:22-23 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.”
John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
John 16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”
We see over and over that God’s people
Will be under constant attack from the evil one.
And all the while we are ALSO TOLD that
We must NEVER TAKE OUR OWN REVENGE.
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”
Instead of getting even, we are commanded to entrust our justice to God.
Just as Jesus did:
1 Peter 2:22-23 “WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;”
This is the message of Scripture to God’s persecuted people.
And as such, WE SEE OFTEN throughout the pages of Scripture
The cry of God’s people for deliverance and vindication against such evil.
Perhaps none more famous than that cry found in the book of the Revelation:
Revelation 6:9-10 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Isaiah 34 & 35 addresses this issue.
IT IS A BEACON OF HOPE TO A PERSECUTED REMNANT.
Here we read of 2 very different fates.
• Chapter 34 shows us the fate of sinners.
• Chapter 35 shows us the fate of the redeemed.
AND WE LEARN THAT
God does not take lightly the affliction of His people.
(8) “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
Or as Paul states in the New Testament.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
During Christmas season we celebrate that FIRST ADVENT when Jesus Christ came to save sinners.
This morning we look at the SECOND ADVENT when He will return to vindicate those whom He saved.
Isaiah longs to reassure the remnant
THAT GOD WILL VINDICATE THEM FROM THEIR ENEMIES
And as a backdrop to the sermon there are 185,000 dead Assyrians.
Let’s break this chapter down into 3 parts to see God’s fury on those who afflict His people.
#1 GOD’S GLOBAL INDIGNATION
Isaiah 34:1-2
The simple message is clear.
GOD IS ANGRY.
This seems to be an oft-forgotten attribute of God.
I’ve heard plenty of contemporary Christian songs whose lyrics were written to assure sinners that God is not angry in the least.
Not only is that not true,
But it is actually DETRIMENTAL to the message of the GOSPEL.
• Why repent if God is not angry?
• Why cry out to Jesus if God is not angry?
• Why surrender your body to the Lordship of Christ and face the hostility of this world if God is not angry and willing to judge your sin?
It is a NONSENSICAL message, and because it is categorically wrong
It is also a BLASPHEMOUS one.
Psalms 7:11 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”
Just read again these 2 verses.
(1-2) “Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. For the LORD’S indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.”
• We read of “the LORD’S indignation”
• We read of “His wrath”
Those words are really synonyms, perhaps the only distinction is that one speaks of wrath and the other of burning anger. Take your pick.
And Isaiah assures the nations that God has it toward them.
Afterall,
• Have we forgotten the flood?
• Have we forgotten Sodom and Gomorrah?
• Have we forgotten that Jesus said it would be better for those towns than for the towns where He ministered in the day of judgment?
Did Paul not tell us that the wrath of God IS NOW REVEALED?
Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”
Did he not remind us that His wrath will SOON BE POURED OUT?
Romans 2:5-11 “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”
To say that God is not angry is terribly wrong.
• Of course He is angry.
• He is angry at sin
• He is angry at sinners.
• And He is angry at those who persecuted the ones He is saving.
And an interesting phrase at the end of verse 2
“He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.”
Certainly that was true of the Assyrian army.
But Isaiah isn’t looking backward here, he is looking forward.
He is not talking about those whom God has just destroyed,
Isaiah is talking about those God is going to.
It echoes through our mind what Jesus said:
John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
• Namely that Jesus did not come to the world to judge the world.
• He didn’t have to.
• The world is already under judgment.
The reason the world needs a Savior is because God is angry.
In fact, Isaiah says that God “has given them over to slaughter.”
The Hebrew word there is (KHAY-REM)
Isaiah will use it again down in verse 5
(5) “For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.”
There it is again, “devoted to destruction” (KHAY-REM)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
• Well it can be translated as destruction or curse.
• The simplest translation of the word is “net” as in a fishing net.
It is that object which entraps its prey
And therefore ensures their coming judgment.
Everything in that net is going to die.
Same word here.
Deuteronomy 13:17 “Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers,”
• There it is translated “under the ban”
Joshua 6:17-18 “The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the LORD; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. “But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it.”
• And there again, “under the ban”.
• It means that you are to keep nothing there.
• God has devoted it to destruction.
You may remember that Achan tried to keep some of the spoils
And God judged him for it.
Later on God told Saul
• That the Amelikites were to be under the ban and devoted to destruction
• When Saul spared some of them God removed Saul from being king.
When the King of Israel spared Ben-Hadad of the Arameans God told him:
1 Kings 20:42 “He said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’”
I HOPE YOU GET THE POINT.
God has no longer any other purpose for them
But that they be destroyed.
• This chapter says nothing about repentance.
• This chapter says nothing about redemption.
• This chapter says nothing about salvation.
God only had one use for the Assyrians and that was destruction.
And there will come a day when that is true for unrepentant sinners too.
SOME DAY ALL THOSE WHO REJECT CHRIST
• Will be placed “under the ban”
• And will be cast into “the lake of fire”
• And will be “devoted to destruction.”
ALL OF THIS SPEAKS TO GOD’S ANGER.
He is furious with the nations who afflict His people.
CHURCH LISTEN:
• While God does allow sinners to continue in this world.
• While God does allow sinners to come to power and make sinful decision.
• While God does allow sinners to persecute and attack His people.
KNOW THAT GOD WILL VINDICATE YOU IN THEIR MIDST.
He uses them for His purposes.
• Sometimes to bring judgment on other sinners.
• Sometimes to sanctify His people and bring revival.
But do not be confused.
God is for you. God is angry at them.
WELL WHAT DOES THAT ANGER LOOK LIKE?
(3-4) “So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood. And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as one withers from the fig tree.”
Ask Isaiah what the indignation of God looks like
And Isaiah will point to 185,000 dead Assyrians.
That is what it looks like, says Isaiah.
That is what it smells like, says Isaiah.
There is a day coming when “the host of heaven will wear away”
• The heavenly host are angels.
• In this case fallen angels or demons.
• And God will judge all the evil powers of the heavenlies who are the catalyst for such acts of oppression.
Isaiah sees the day recorded in Revelation 6 when “the sky will be rolled up like a scroll”
GOD IS ANGRY.
If you want to know what it looks like, IT LOOKS LIKE DEATH.
Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death…”
This is not a joke.
Isaiah is warning the nations of the anger of God.
God’s Global Indignation
#2 GOD’S FURIOUS VINDICATION
Isaiah 34:5-8
Once again, the language there is intense.
• Isaiah speaks of a day of slaughter.
• He speaks of a day God’s sword is busy and active.
“For My sword is satiated in heaven”
“satiated” is (RRA-VA)
It means “to bathe, make drunk, fill, or soak”
This is a violent expression of God’s wrath.
And God says it descends upon “Edom”
That God has “a sacrifice in Bozrah”
Why Edom?
Edom is representative of the nations.
If God wants to name one nation that REPRESENTS A FALSE HOPE of His people it is almost always the same nation – EGYPT.
If God wants to name one nation that REPRESENTS WORLDLINESS AND SINFUL IMMORALITY it is almost always the same nation – BABYLON.
If God wants to name one nation that REPRESENTS PERSECUTION AND OPPRESSION of His people it is almost always the name nation – EDOM.
• It was the EDOMITES that first resisted the Israelites as they fled from Egypt and refused to allow them water.
• It was the EDOMITES who waited at the crossroads to execute those who fled from the Babylonian invasion.
Edom is the perpetual enemies of Israel
And illustrative of the world who hates God’s people.
Isaiah 63:1-6 “Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come. “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”
It is the same scene seen here.
God has devoted His enemies to destruction
And has spared no effort in dipping His sword in their blood.
It is called “a great slaughter”
• God is annihilating sinners.
And we know this is well within the prerogative of God.
Just read the second coming of Christ.
Revelation 14:14-20 “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.”
Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Jesus said that “where the bodies are, there the vultures would gather.”
I know this is NOT an often thought of reality.
I know the world certainly doesn’t want to hear it.
But church, this is real.
God is angry and He will do this.
But what is at the forefront of Isaiah’s mind is
WHY GOD WILL DO IT.
(8) “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
He is doing it to vindicate His people.
He is vindicating the faith of those who trusted Him.
• Those who were mocked and abused in the world.
• Those who were persecuted and slaughtered.
• Those who the world hated.
But they trusted in Christ and would not abandon Him.
And the Lord had not forgotten.
He has a day of vengeance for them.
This is NOT ON His people, this is FOR His people.
You’ll see it in the next chapter.
Isaiah 35:4 “Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.”
Paul told the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 5:2-3,9 “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape…For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
Romans 12:19 “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.”
Now you may be saying, “What am I supposed to do with that?”
• I see what Isaiah is saying.
• I see that is echoed in the New Testament.
BUT WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH SUCH A TRUTH?
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO RESPOND TO THAT?
WITH GRATITUDE! – Your God will vindicate you. He will not let your faith go unrewarded or undefended.
WITH FAITH! – You can trust God in this world of hostility because you know your God will vindicate you.
WITH CONVICTION! – Tell the world that in the end there is only one group left standing and it is God’s people.
God has global indignation God has furious vindication
#3 GOD’S THOROUGH DESOLATION
Isaiah 34:9-17
Again, it is not hard to understand the picture Isaiah paints.
• “streams…turned into pitch”
• “loose earth into brimstone”
• “land will become burning pitch”
It doesn’t take great skill to interpret what is happening.
God is burning the wicked with fire.
How long will He do it?
FOREVER
(10) “It will not be quenched night or day; Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation it will be desolate; None will pass through it forever and ever.”
• God will never stop vindicating His people.
• God will never stop avenging them.
Do you see that HE IS FOR YOU?
Do you see what He will do to those who persecute you?
• There is no need for you to take your own revenge.
• There is no need for you to justify yourself.
• God has it covered.
In verses 11-15 He speaks of turning their land into utter desolation.
But it is more than just making it a barren wasteland.
There is a vocabulary link here.
(11b) “And He will stretch over it the line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.”
Interesting choice of words by Isaiah.
• “desolation” = TOHU
• “emptiness” = BOHU
God will take this world and make it TOHU & BOHU
Why is that interesting?
Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”
We find in the beginning that “the earth was formless and void”
• “formless” = TOHU
• “void” = BOHU
God took an earth that was TOHU & BOHU and He redeemed it.
The next time He will take the world
And return it to a state of TOHU and BOHU.
He created it by His word.
He will uncreate it with fire.
He will make it into nothing.
It is total, furious, unrelenting, unending, annihilation.
And as a Bible preacher I love how Isaiah closes this segment.
(16-17) “Seek from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these will be missing; None will lack its mate. For His mouth has commanded, And His Spirit has gathered them. He has cast the lot for them, And His hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they will dwell in it.”
Isaiah tells the nations, “Seek from the book of the LORD, and read”
What a message to the unredeemed nations!
You’d better get a copy of the Bible and read what God says about all this.
Our world lives in this fantasy realm
• Where “if God exists He most certainly would never judge sinners.”
• They rightly proclaim that “God is love” but they have no idea what that
means.
Do you want to know what “God is love” means?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
It means that even though God is angry at sinners,
He is merciful and gracious and willing to forgive sinners
Who repent and believe in His Son.
It DOES NOT MEAN that He has determined not to judge.
IN FACT, “God is love” is a promise that God will judge sinners.
Because God loves His own and has promised to vindicate them.
NOW CHURCH, LET ME DRAW THIS SCENE TO A CLOSE FOR YOU.
Close your eyes and see
185,000 dead Assyrians outside the wall of Jerusalem.
• Isaiah spoke of their blood.
• Isaiah spoke of their stench.
• Isaiah spoke of the burning of their carcasses.
And as he spoke of it, he asked the remnant:
Do you see that God is for you?
Church, there is no need to trust anyone or anything else.
There is no need to put your hope in anyone else but Jesus.
There are no other Saviors.
There are no other deliverers.
NONE OTHERS ARE NEEDED
God is for you.
• The Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed you.
• The Lord Jesus Christ has saved you.
• You are His and He will deliver.
This message was a reproach to Jerusalem
• Who took far too long to finally trust God.
• Oh that they would have called on Him much sooner than they did.
But this message was also a comfort to them as well,
• For now that they had called on Him
• They could see that there is no reason to ever call on another.
And now, with 185,000 dead Assyrians laid out before you.
• 185,000 dead Assyrians who threatened God’s people.
• 185,000 dead Assyrians who persecuted the bride of Christ.
With that in view, let me read this one final passage to you.
Romans 8:31-39 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
