AP

Isaiah 10:15  Does the axe raise itself above the person who swings it, or the saw boast against the one who uses it?  As if a rod were to wield the person who lifts it up, or a club brandish the one who is not wood!

The Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the mighty Assyrian nation in 722 BC, during the reign of Ahaz in the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  It was at this point that the Northern Kingdom ceased to exist.  All this put great pressure on Ahaz, and Isaiah was sent to Ahaz to urge him to put his full trust in the LORD and all would be well.

We read all about this telling interchange between the faithful Prophet and the weak, faithless King in Isaiah 7.  Isaiah told the King to seek a ‘sign’ that the LORD would protect him, but Ahaz refused, which led to his being told he would get a sign anyway: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (verse 14).  This ‘sign’ of God’s ability to rescue and save his people would ultimately be fulfilled, of course, in Jesus.  But, in the immediate context, the LORD was using all this to teach Sennacherib, King of Assyria – and, ultimately, teaching all of us – a very important lesson: whereas the LORD might choose to use human individuals to carry out his judgement on rebellious nations, it is fatally dangerous for anyone to be so arrogant as to deny and defy God’s sovereign rule.

This is exactly what happened in the case of both Ahaz and Sennacherib.  Years later, Sennacherib, in his attempt to intimidate Ahaz’s son, King Hezekiah, and beat him into submission, sent his military officials to lay seige on Jerusalem and to boast loudly and persistently about his track record of conquests over every other nation, as if it was all due to his own power and prowess.  He openly defied and challenged the LORD, the God of Judah. In today’s verse Isaiah speaks of the futility of such arrogance as he introduces his prophetic announcement of the imminent ‘destruction of Sennacherib’ as reported in 2 Kings 19:35, “That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp.  When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies!”

Because of the built-in arrogance and pride in the fallen nature of each and every one of us we would be foolish to ignore such a clear warning.  The only cure for our condition is to come humbly to the foot of the Cross of Christ and plead on our knees, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner”.  “Out of my bondage, sorrow, and night, Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!  Into thy freedom, gladness, and light, Jesus, I come to thee!  Out of my sickness into thy health, out of my want and into thy wealth, Out of my sin and into thyself, Jesus, I come to thee.  … … Out of unrest and arrogant pride, Jesus, I come! Jesus, I come!  Into thy blessed will to abide, Jesus, I come to thee!  Out of myself to dwell in thy love, out of despair into raptures above, upward for aye on wings like a dove, Jesus, I come to thee” (William Sleeper).

– Bruce Christian