Isaiah chapter 9 tonight as we return to our study of the book of Isaiah. We're just racing through this 66 chapter book already here in Isaiah chapter 9, and we'll be covering 9 verse 8 to 10 verse 34 tonight. We're trying to cover pretty big sections so that we're not in it forever, but we want to give attention to what God has for us in this book. It's been a couple of weeks since we've been in our study of Isaiah, so just to remind you of a couple of things. Remember, Isaiah was a prophet of the Lord in the 8th century BC. And he prophesied in Judah and Jerusalem, which was the southern kingdom of Israel. Remember after Solomon died, the kingdom was split into a northern kingdom called Israel, or sometimes called Ephraim or Jacob, and a southern kingdom called Judah. And Isaiah was primarily in the southern kingdom, though he refers to things that concern both kingdoms. And he lived at a time where the Assyrians were the dominant Gentile threat to Israel's safety. And the Assyrians were threatening really to overtake the world, but also to destroy Israel. And the Assyrians would eventually destroy the northern kingdom of Israel and send it into exile in 722 BC. And then they would go down in a siege called the Siege of Sennacherib, where they tried to do the same thing to Judah under the reign of King Hezekiah around 701 BC, and God miraculously delivered King Hezekiah. And so Isaiah is in that time period. He prophesied during the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. And we've seen that one of the things that Isaiah loves to do is he mingles prophecies of judgment with oracles of hope. And so he'll give a blast of words of judgment against the sin of the people, but then he'll follow that up with news of deliverance. And one of the key features of deliverance is a Messiah is coming and a remnant within Israel will be saved, and then the nations also will be saved. is essentially what he said again and again. Remember in chapter 9, he said, unto you a child is born, unto us a son is given, and then he goes on to say his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. And so he's given us these prophecies of Messiah, so they give us hope. Well, let's start tonight by picking up where we left off, Isaiah 9 and verse 8, and let's read the first section, which tells us judgment on Israel, 9, 8 to 10, 4, and we'll pray and begin. So let's turn there, Isaiah 9 and verse 8. The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel. And all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and arrogance of heart, the bricks have fallen, but we will rebuild. We will build with dress stones. The sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him, remember Rezin was the king of Syria, and stirs up his enemies. The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger has not turned away and his hand is stretched out still. The people who did not turn to him who struck him, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day. The elder and the honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. For wickedness burns like a fire. It consumes briars and thorns. It kindles the thickets of the forest. And they roll upward in a column of smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts, the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire. No one spares another. They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry, and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied. Each devours the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh. Together they are against Judah. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still." Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression. To turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right. That widows may be their spoil and that they may make fatherless their prey. What will you do on the day of punishment and the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help and where will you leave your wealth? Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still." This is God's Word. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for your Word. We do recognize that the grass withers and the flower fades, but your Word endures forever. Forever, O Lord, your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens. It is like a two-edged sword that penetrates the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, weighing the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. We ask that your word would inform our minds, that it would set our wills free, that it would comfort our hearts, that it would convict us of sin, that it would assure us that we are forgiven. We think of the words we just sang together, his wounds have paid my ransom. And we thank you for Jesus' wounds and that by his wounds we are healed. Lord, we ask that you would bless us as we study your word and as we discuss it later this evening, may we be encouraged by time spent together and in your word. We also remember those who are not with us tonight. We lift up Jenny as she spends her final days on earth. And we ask that you would rescue her from every evil deed and bring her safely into your eternal kingdom. We know she longs to be absent from the body and present with you. We pray that you would comfort Sam as he walks with her through the valley of the shadow of death. Remind them both that you are with them and that you will never leave them nor forsake them and lift up their heads to the light of Christ and the hope of the gospel. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So in this initial section, Isaiah 9, 8 to 10, 4, Isaiah is giving words of judgment on Israel. And primarily in this section, even though Isaiah prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah, These words concern judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel, mostly. So he's talking about judgment on Israel. And the emphasis here is primarily that even though God brought this judgment into his people, the people were supposed to see the judgment and repent. but they actually have not responded well to the judgment that God has brought about. And so Isaiah is lamenting that the people of God have been so unresponsive to God's discipline. Alec Motier, that's how you pronounce his name, he's a commentator of the Old Testament says this, for the Lord's people, everything depends on their reaction to His Word. What a great line. Everything depends on their reaction to His Word. The obedience blessing, disobedience cursing syndrome is inherent in the covenant. So remember, in God's covenant that He made with Israel, He said, if you obey me, you'll be blessed. If you disobey me, you'll be cursed. Obedience is the way to life. Disobedience is the way to death. And so Israel, unfortunately, has chosen the way to death. And so in this section, again to quote Moitier, he says Isaiah is tracing out the terrifying consequences of rejecting revealed truth. So when the people of God reject God's truth, when they reject the covenant, when they turn their back on the light that has been given them, terrible consequences are the results. Terrible spiritual consequences, terrible consequences for individuals, for the family, for marriage, for society. These consequences are laid out by Isaiah. So remember, we said Isaiah as a prophet is not just a predictor of the future, right? He's a covenant enforcer. Remember that phrase? He prosecutes the people of God, and he says, God's made a covenant with you, and now I'm prosecuting you for breaking that covenant. And so he's making his case. And you see the way he makes his case in this initial section here for tonight is that there's this repeated phrase four times. He says, for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. And it says that, you can see the references there, four different times. Whenever God repeats something, He's calling our attention to it, and He's saying, God has done all of this to His people, and yet they haven't repented. So what are some of the things that he points out here? Well, one of the things he points out is that Israel's downfall as a nation has occurred primarily because of their pride. Think about the proverb. What does it say? Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall. And pride is the reason why they have fallen into this. Notice that in verse 8, he refers to this word that has gone against Jacob and that has fallen against Israel. Most likely, that's Isaiah referring to the prophetic ministry of Amos and Hosea, who were 8th century prophets like Isaiah, but they prophesied in the northern kingdom. So Amos and Hosea had preached up in the north and said, the Assyrians are coming, the Assyrians are coming, right? And they said, you need to repent. And the people said, we would rather not. And Isaiah says, this word is now coming down upon you. And you can see that the root problem with the people, the reason why they didn't repent, is because of this pride. And you see that pride in verse 10 with the phrase, the repeated phrase, we will. So they say, the bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones. And then the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. It's that we will, kind of like the Tower of Babel, we will build a tower up to God. We have been torn down, but by our own power, we will pull ourselves up. and we will make things right." And this is the reason why God has raised up, verse 11, these adversaries. The adversaries of Rezan, that was Assyria. They had come in. The Syrians on the east of Israel had come in. The Philistines to their west had come in. You see that in verse 12. And God's saying all of these enemies had come against His people because of their sin. And so all of that was rooted in their pride. Secondly, he points out that the people have suffered political ruin. And so the sin of the people has destroyed their government, their political society, if you will. So in verse 13, you can see again the problem. A very key verse. He says, the people did not turn to him who struck them, that's God by the way, God used the Assyrians to strike them, and the people did not turn to Him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. So the Lord brought this affliction, He brought this judgment, these Assyrians came in, and they didn't turn to Him. So it's the exact opposite of Job's attitude. You know that verse we often quote from Job 13, 15. Job has been afflicted by the Lord, and he says what? Though He slay me, I will trust in Him. When the Lord afflicts us, we are to trust in Him. Thomas Watson, a Puritan, once said that when the Lord puts us on our back, we look into heaven. God afflicts us so that we would trust in Him, but they didn't turn to Him. Verse 13. It's very similar. So remember, Amos is a contemporary. If you put your finger in Isaiah 9 and flip over to the minor prophet Amos, Amos had said something almost identical to this. And Amos whatever I wrote down there. 4, Amos 4, verse 6. Look at this. Same point, you'll get, it reinforces it. I know it's another long passage, but look at this. Amos 4 and verse 6, it says, God speaking, and he says, I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, in other words, famine, and lack of bread in all your places, yet I you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another." And he goes on to describe, and look at the end of verse 8, he says, yet you didn't turn to me. And then in verse 9 he says, I struck you with blight and mildew, your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees and your locusts devoured, yet you didn't turn to me. Then in verse 10, I sent among you pestilence after the manor of Egypt. And he goes and describes the pestilence and the fighting that went on. And he says in verse 10, yet you didn't return to me. And then in verse 11, I threw some of you as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning. What does it say? Yet you didn't return to me. You notice a theme? I brought this judgment on you, I brought this discipline on you, and you were supposed to repent, and you became more hard-hearted." And so Isaiah is saying something similar to what Amos had said. And Isaiah stresses back in chapter 9 just the pervasiveness of the sin of the people throughout their society. And so he points to their leadership in verses 14 and 16. He calls one the head and the tail, and if you look in verse 15 when he's talking about the head and the tail, he's talking about their civil and their religious leadership. The elder is the civil leadership, and then the prophet who teaches is the tail. That's their religious leadership. And so the idea is all the leadership within Israel was corrupt. And so, no wonder sin was all throughout their society as a result of that. And you can see it swallowed up the people, verse 16, the language of these blind guides were blind guides leading the blind, kind of like Jesus said, swallowing up the people. And then, it's so bad that in verse 17, there's no sector of Israelite society that's not corrupted by the sin. So it's their political leaders, but also it says God doesn't rejoice over the young men, so the young strapping men who would go off and fight battles, who were the future of their culture, who would be the next generation of leaders. God doesn't rejoice in them. And we know how much God cares for the weak and vulnerable, like the fatherless and the widow. But even here, look what it says in verse 19. He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. Why? Because even their mouth spoke folly, verse 17. And it says, that repeated line, all his anger has not been turned away, his hand is stretched out still. So they're stubborn, they're stiff-necked in their sin. So their downfall as a nation came because of pride. They suffered political ruin that went throughout all society, and then verses 18 through 21 kind of just describes that anarchy that's going on in society. It describes sin in verse 18 kind of like the burning of a wildfire. You know, it starts small. There's a little flicker of a flame, and then there's all that dry briars and thorns or whatever it may be, and what happens? There's a little wind, and then it just spreads. And that's how sin has spread throughout society. So sin always spreads. It never stays contained. It never stays contained. You can't push a pause button on sin. You can't say, I'm just going to keep it in this little small spot. If it's in your individual life or in society, sin's always going to grow and become bigger unless it is, as the Bible says, is put to death. And so that's the nature of sin. It's like leaven. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, or like fire, it spreads. And notice how with sin spreading throughout all the nooks and crannies of Israelite society, that there is also this sense of discontentment that the people have. Did you notice in verse 20 how well it describes that discontentment that people have? They slice meat on the right, but they're still hungry. And then it says, they devour on the left, but they're not satisfied. You hear a little Mick Jagger there? I can't get no satisfaction. It's like the more they desire, the more that they want, it's never enough. It's never enough. And then look at this statement. How dire is this? The end of verse 20. Each devours the flesh of his own arm. They're consuming themselves. They're devouring themselves because they're that desperate in sin. So sin never satisfies, right? I mean, we talk about in the Bible, it talks about the fleeting pleasures of sin. And we know that there is fleeting pleasure to sin. Sin can be fun for a season, right? It can make you feel good for the short term. But one of the ways we should think about sin is it's kind of like candy-coated poison, right? When it's in your mouth, you taste that, That candy coat, remember when Advil used to have that really, it almost tastes like an M&M when you put it in. But as a kid, if you suck that too long, it tastes really nasty, doesn't it? But a poison, you suck that shell off, it's in your system, it's in your society. you're ruined. And this is why the Bible talks about warning one another against the deceitfulness of sin, right? Because it seduces, it deceives, it hardens our heart, and it has us caught in its trap. And so this is, I mean, what a picture of every man, verse 20, every man living for himself. And then look at how it divides the people of God. Verse 21 says, Manasseh devours Ephraim. Who were Manasseh and Ephraim? Well, they were tribes. Where were they tribes? In the northern kingdom, yes. But remember, Manasseh and Ephraim were tribes that were brothers. Manasseh and Ephraim go back to that they were the grandchildren of Jacob, the sons of Joseph. Remember our study of Genesis? They are related to one another. And yet, they're fighting with one another. They're in the same kingdom. Now, Israel as a whole was a divided kingdom. But even in the part that they should have been united with, the north, that part was divided into Ephraim and Manasseh. And they're warring with one another. And then Ephraim and Manasseh are warring against the other brother, or the tribe that comes from that other brother, Judah, in the south. And they're all against one another. There's civil war within the nation. Disintegration, there's division, there's hatred. Sinful people can never be unified, truly. They'll always turn against one another. They'll always try to go after one another. And a nation of sinners can't be unified. living flagrantly in violation of God's law. And that's what was going on in Israel. And so, but notice also this affects. So sin, again, it's not just personal, it's societal. It affects the government. It affects the legislatures. Because look in chapter 10, what does he say? We have another woe. Remember he had that list of six woes in chapter 5. Well, here's another woe to add to the six woes of chapter 5. Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression. So what is he saying is that it's possible to actually make evil laws, right? I mean, we have so many examples of that. You go back to Egypt when Pharaoh made an evil law. where the people of Israel were told to make bricks without straw, or where they were to kill the males who were being the Hebrew males. We think of Nebuchadnezzar when he made his 90-foot tall golden statue and he told everyone to bow down before it. That would have been an evil law. In the New Testament, you think of the Sanhedrin when they stated that Peter and John and the apostles stopped preaching in the name of Jesus. That's an evil law. The important thing, though, is why is a law evil? A law is evil, even a secular law is evil, if it contradicts the law of God in the Bible, right? In other words, even civil laws, even laws that are made for societies, those laws are to be evaluated by God's law. God's law is the ultimate litmus test of whether or not something is good or just or righteous or pure or holy. And so these evil leaders were writing iniquitous decrees, writing oppression, taking advantage of society. Now, sometimes people will say, well, are you saying we legislate morality? Well, certainly, you can't make people moral by getting the right laws on the books. We all know that, right? In fact, there's a line in Hosea, I think it is, where he says, if I gave this people my laws, by the tens of thousands, they would count them a strange thing. And so God's basically saying, no matter how many laws I give this people, they're still not going to repent. They're still not going to follow me. At the same time, even though laws do not make people moral, there is, and you can't legislate morality in the sense of making people moral by having good laws, there is a sense in which you cannot legislate anything but morality. And in that sense, every law reflects a worldview. Every law reflects a sense of good, evil, you know, right and wrong, and we get that from God's revealed truth. We don't just get that from common sense. We don't just get that from human reason. We get it because there is a God and he has revealed himself in his word and his word is true. And so when you think about evaluating laws, yeah, a law can be objectively unjust. if it contradicts God's Word. And so we can think of all kinds of unjust laws that are on the books today. And we need to remember that whereas you can't make people moral by having the right laws, laws have the purpose of restraining evil. And you see, in this society, the restraints are off. Why are they off? Because there are those who are decreeing iniquitous decrees. There are those who are writing oppression, and they're taking advantage of the poor and needy. The widows are becoming their spoil, you see, and so on. And so the point is, this is revealing the sin of society. So again, to quote Moitier, he says, if people refuse the rule of the Word of God, they end up under unprincipled human rule. So if you reject God, if you reject His Word, what? Might makes right. If you reject God, anything becomes permissible if you reject His truth. And so it's absolutely essential that we understand that the consequences that were coming into Israelite society are really no different from the consequences that come into any society or any visible church that rejects God's revealed truth. And that's what Isaiah is showing us. That's judgment on Israel, though. What about Assyria? What's going to happen to Assyria? Well, he goes into that in verse 5. Chapter 10, verse 5. Woe to Assyria! The rod of my anger, the staff in their hands is my fury. Against a godless nation I send him. Notice, by the way, the godless nation is who? Israel. Israel. Remember, God had called it a holy nation, but now it's a godless nation. Against a godless nation, I send him against the people of my wrath. Who's that? The people of his wrath. Israel. I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think. But it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations, not a few. For he says, are not my commanders? all kings, is not Cano like Carcamesh, is not Hamath like Arpad, is not Samaria like Damascus, as my hands has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria, shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?" That's the proud taunt of the king of Assyria. When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. I remove the boundaries of peoples and plunder their treasures. Like a bull, I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples, as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken. So I have gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped. Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it? Are the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood. Therefore the Lord of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour His thorns and briars in one day. The glory of His forest and of His fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away. The remnant of the trees of His forest will be so few that a child can write them down." Now, a lot of details there, but here's the main thing I want you to see. Notice how God has used, verse 5, Assyria like a rod. So what do you do with a rod in the Bible? You discipline somebody, physically, right? And so God has taken Assyria, and He's used it as a rod against whom? Against His own people, Israel. to bring them in, to destroy the northern kingdom, and to send them into exile for their idolatry. But notice, God has used Assyria in that way. Look at verse 7. Even though Assyria did not intend to be used in that way. You see how verse 7, it says, He does not so intend, and his heart does not so think. So even though Assyria just thought, I'm conquering the world, I'm building up my empire, we're becoming great, and God says, even though they don't intend what I'm doing, I'm using that, their wicked intentions, to discipline my people. And so you see, divine sovereignty compatible with human responsibility. The Assyrians want to do evil, they want to build their empire, but God says, even though they don't intend it, I'm using them as a rod to punish my people for their sin. But you see, Assyria is just as proud as Israel. Don't get the idea that because they're the rod of God's anger that somehow they are better. They're just as proud as Israel. So God's using the proud as a rod to punish the proud. And you see this in the language where they're kind of like, is not Colno like Carchemish, verse 9 and 10. The language there is essentially, the Assyrians are saying, we've conquered these cities that are further away from Israel. the ones that are closer to Israel are going to be no match for us either. And so those cities with their idols weren't able to deliver them, and Israel with its cities and their idols, it's supposed to make you cringe, God's people aren't supposed to have idols, their idols aren't going to deliver them either. And so the Assyrians are boasting, and yet God makes it clear, starting around verse 12, that after the Lord takes Assyria as His rod, and punishes Israel, what is he going to do? He's going to punish them. He's going to turn around and punish the rod that he just used to destroy Israel. Verse 12, when the Lord has finished all the work on Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. You see the pride there in Assyria and represented by its king. And notice how it makes it very clear that Assyria has been nothing but an instrument. the hand of God, for God to do as He wills for His glory. And you have that rhetorical question, shall the axe, what's the axe? Syria. Shall the axe boast over Him, God, who hews with it? Are the saw, who's the saw? Syria. Saw down Israel. Shall it magnify itself over Him who wields with it? So God's saying, Assyria, you've just been an axe in My hand. And yeah, I've cut down My people, but who are you to boast? You're just the axe. And yeah, I've taken you Assyria, and I've sawn down My people, but who are you to boast? You are just the saw. And so notice, God is impartial. God is sovereign. God is on God's side. He has a zeal for His own glory. He has a zeal for His own righteous purposes. So He's going to judge wicked Assyria, He's going to judge His own nation as well. Is there any hope? Well, we've seen again and again that there is. Look at this final section, starting in verse 20. In that day, the remnant, we've seen the remnant before, haven't we? Remember, Isaiah had two sons. What were their names? Bible trivia. Shir Jashub and Mahershalahashvaz. You didn't remember that? Come on now. Shear Jashub meant, a remnant shall return. So Isaiah's firstborn son had a prophetic name that meant God's gonna preserve an elect remnant. Even when this rod is dropped on his people, even when this ax is going through, chopping them up, he's going to preserve a true people because of his commitment to his promises to Abraham, because he promised that there will be seed, stars that outshine the stars of the heavens, more sand on the seashore. God will have his people. And so that's essentially what God says here. He says, in that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean, look at this, they will no more lean on him who struck them, Syria, but they will lean on the Lord. That's what God wanted all the time. They weren't leaning on the Lord. But He wants them to lean on the Lord. Who is the Lord? Verse 20 into the verse, the Holy One of Israel, He's the Holy God, the sovereign God, the impartial judge. And He's the one who's the Holy One of Israel in truth. He's the true God. He's committed to what conforms to His character and is keeping with His covenant word. A remnant will return. There's the promise. The remnant of Jacob. Now check this out. To the mighty God. That's that phrase, El Gabor, that we've already seen in Isaiah. It's a phrase that normally kind of means something like a mighty warrior or something. Remember who it was used of. It was used of the Messiah. In Isaiah 9, in verse 6, to us a child is born, to us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, what? Mighty God. So the way that this remnant will be saved after the Assyrians come in, after the judgment has come in, the way God will save them is through the mighty God. And the mighty God in Isaiah is also human. He's the son that is born and is given to God's people to be their redeemer. And so Isaiah is just laying this out. For though your people of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end as decreed in the midst of the earth. And so God's going to save his remnant, but also part of salvation, as it is throughout all the Bible, is God's going to judge all the enemies of his people. When God saves people out of Egypt, what does He do? He drowns the Egyptians. Right? In the book of Revelation, when God saves the righteous, those who have their names written in the book of life, what does it say? He destroys the wicked, fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and the people of God rejoice. And that's what happens here at the end. It says, verse 24, Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you, as the Egyptians did. So notice God said, I'm sovereign over this. I'm controlling it. It's bringing in judgment. But you, righteous remnant, you believers in the Lord, don't be afraid. For in a very little while, my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. Remember, that's when Gideon and his 300 men whipped up on the Midianites. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. Remember, God delivered his people by drowning the Egyptians. So again, that wasn't by the might of the people, it was by the power of God. And in that day, his burden will depart from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck, and the yoke will be broken because of the fat. He has come to Aeth. He has passed through Migron. At Bigmash, he stores his baggage. They have crossed over the pass. At Geba, they lodged for the night. Rama trembles. Gibeon of Saul has fled. Cry aloud, O daughter of Galem. Give attention, O Elisha. O poor Anathoth. Mad-nem-mana is in flight. The inhabitants of Geba flee for safety. The very day he will halt at Nob. He will shake his fist at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. All of those names are divinely inspired, but my pronunciation is not. Don't get lost in all those names. If you were to look them all up on a map, Essentially, it's tracing the way the Assyrians would have invaded, coming from north to south. And Nob, the one on the bottom, remember, Nob is where there was a priesthood at one time, and Saul killed all the priests of Nob in that bloodbath with, you know, Doeg the Edomite, that scoundrel and all that that happened there. But Nob was not far from Jerusalem. And so when the Assyrians came in, in 722 BC, they wiped out the northern kingdom. About 20 years later, 701 or so, they invaded Judah. They came all the way down to Nob. They had Hezekiah, king of Judah, encircled, pent up like a bird in a cage. And right outside of Nob is where they were stopped. And the southern kingdom would last for another 150 years or so. And so what's going on here is Isaiah is forth telling that invasion and all that will happen. In verse 33, behold, the Lord God of hosts will loft the boughs with terrifying power. The great in height he will be hewn down, and the lofty will be brought low. See, he's humbling the proud. He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an ax. And Lebanon will fall by the majestic one. Lebanon was known, north of Israel, was known for its massive trees and the strength of those trees, and they were used to build ships and things. And God's essentially saying He's just going to lop it all down, because the proud cannot stand before Him. For the Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So what we're meant to take away from all that is essentially that we are to humble ourselves before the Lord. That when we see the sin in our society, when we see it in our church, when we see it in our personal lives, that we're called to humble ourselves before the Lord and call out for grace. Because we know that judgment is God's strange work. God delights to show mercy. God is a righteous God. He has wrath. but he's inclined to show mercy. And you think about the parable of the prodigal son, you know, the moment he sees the prodigal returning, the father's running to him, right? He doesn't even let the son go through his confession and do a full repentance because God is inclined in his heart to show mercy. But it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, knowing that mercy, knowing that the Lord is willing to forgive and cleanse and heal and restore those who are repentant should cause us to want to come to our senses, like the prodigal did, stop eating the pig's food and go back to our Father's house who runs to forgive and restore. And that's because of the work of this Messiah that Isaiah will talk about, this Messiah who, though we all like sheep have gone astray, the Lord will lay on Him, Jesus, the iniquity of us all, and he'll be wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement that brings us peace will be laid on him. and He'll be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin, not only of Israel, but of the world, of the people of God scattered abroad among all the nations of the earth. And by looking to Him, we'll be forgiven and cleansed. So we're out of time. Let me pray for us and we'll discuss these things in our discussion groups. I think, Reid, are you leading the youth in a discussion in the youth room? Ladies in the parlor and the men in that room over there in the Warner, adult Sunday school room, let's pray together. Father in heaven, hallelujah, what a Savior you are. You are a God of grace and mercy, slow to anger, overflowing in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And we thank you that through Jesus and through His sacrifice, Though our sins, as Isaiah has told us, are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be as wool. And so we pray that you would bring us to repentance, our families to repentance, our church to repentance, all the visible churches in our country to repentance, our nation, which bears many of the characteristics we're reading about in this oracle. that you would bring it to repentance. Help us to be, as your people, those who humble themselves, who turn from our wicked ways, who call upon your name, and may you hear from heaven our cry and heal the land by your grace. We ask that you would work in our midst, in our hearts, in our homes. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.