love the songs this morning they all speak of the might and power and grandeur of our God and that isn't something that we should have to be reminded of but we do have to be reminded of it from time to time and to remember how great and glorious he is and how great his purposes are and that what he has willed to accomplish none can stop. We just heard Ben read the text we're going to be looking at today in which it is said very explicitly that our God is almighty And as we come back to today's text in the book of the prophet Isaiah, we're continuing this section we began a couple of weeks ago, beginning in chapter 13 and running through chapter 23. And we've seen thus far the prophet tackling Babylon. That has been what we've been looking at over these two chapters. But I've mentioned from the beginning that this is an interesting chapter because, or section of the text, because really 13 through 23 is not about Babylon, although it has text about Babylon. It's not about Assyria, although it has text about Assyria and Philistia. And we can go on down the list of all the nations that will be addressed. It's about them in a sense, secondarily, because the purpose of this text is to say that our God rules and reigns over all the earth and beyond the earth, right? He reigns over all of creation. He is sovereign. And in fact, that's what we mean when we say that he's sovereign or almighty, that he is all powerful, that his power is not hindered. It is not in any way stopped by another, that he is God. And that is what it means to be God. that He is all-powerful. And so we saw that Babylon is the rising power addressed first, and we mentioned that is kind of surprising because Babylon is on the back burner of history at their time. The time this prophecy would have been given they would have seen other nations as far more threat than little Babylon, but Babylon is going to be their problem. We recognize that in biblical history that Assyria might be the problem in the day of Isaiah initially, but he begins more and more to prophesy about what is coming at the hand of the Babylonians. And we've mentioned here that this shouldn't be confusing to us, the interplay between Babylon and Assyria, because this is how typology works. that one is raised up as an example in the current day, and then there is another example in a later day. These are these nations of pridefulness and rebellion against God, and God is saying, I will knock them down in their day one by one. And today it's going to be Assyria, and tomorrow it's going to be Babylon, and it's going to be other nations and kingdoms that rise up and shake their fist at a holy and righteous God. They shall fall. And so we recognize that's what He's working on here. Now that's going to be important as we look at the context of where he goes today, because as you won't be surprised, scholars are dumbfounded. You know, why does he go suddenly to Assyria? Why is he back to Assyria? I thought we were dealing with Babylon. We'll see what he's doing here. So keep in mind that typological or typological pattern of Scripture, and it won't be confusing to you. And you won't have to come up with what the liberal scholars come up with. Well, this must have been taken from another place in scripture and edited into this place or some nonsense like that. No. If you understand what he's doing here, you'll understand exactly how he's speaking to us. Speaking initially to his audience and then through the scriptures to us. So anyway, we recognize here that the point of this entire section is that God rules and reigns. All that God said He would do, He purposed to do in chapters 1 through 12, we don't have to wonder if He has the power to do them because who can withstand Him? You might say, mighty nations. Nope. You might say maybe some sort of cosmic force, maybe the enemy himself. Well, we saw that last week. If the great Babylon cannot stop him, the king of Babylon can't stop him. The king of Babylon himself is a type for the original enemy, and he can't stop him either. We're not do-less. We do not believe that Satan and God have equal power and authority. Right? Satan is a created being. And so we recognize that God holds all power in his hands. And God says, those things that I declare shall happen at the end shall come to pass. And those things that I declare shall happen every step of the way shall come to pass. Because no one can thwart my will. No one can stop it. And we saw that very evidently in the text. We'll come back to it again in a moment. we've seen how the Lord says, whatever nation steps up against Me, I will bring it down. Whatever king or ruler steps up against Me, I will bring him down. And this is just what's told to us time and again in the Scriptures. It says in Daniel, He brings up kings and He brings down kings. It says in Jeremiah, He raises up nations and He brings down nations. This is not an isolated point in the text of the Word of God. But He says it over and over again if we will hear Him and believe Him. And so He says it here today. I mentioned a moment ago that this will be kind of in line with the songs we've been singing today. Because we are called to behold our God and His wonder and might and glory. And this table should be an exercise in that. As we come to this table by His grace, we should marvel at His love, wonder at His grace. We should be awestruck by His power. And yet, instead of judging us as we deserve as sinners, He offers us grace in a seat at His table. My friends, I think we will see today that the things this table points to themselves can be sure to us because we have a God whose word must surely come to pass. All the things that we celebrate at this table, all the promises that are promised to us are sure to us. Why? Because the one who gave us those promises cannot fail. And no one can thwart His will. And so we praise God today to know as we come to this table, it's yet another time to celebrate His sovereignty and His power. Now you'll notice this is kind of a big deal for Isaiah, right? He keeps coming back to sovereignty and authority and providence because the people in Isaiah's day needed to hear it. They were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. You know, they're running around like, who will deliver us? What can we do? Things are not happening as we expect. And we would like to think that we do better, but we have to recognize as human beings, we often fall into the same traps. And we need to hear over and over again about our God and how glorious He is and how He holds all things in His hands. That will give us comfort. And so as we come to this text today, I want to read it again. It's short. The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand, that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountain tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back. Amen. As we think about the Word of the Lord today, let us look at two points today. First of all, God's decrees are certain. And second of all, God's authority is sure. And with that, let us take a turn now to looking at this first point, God's decrees are certain. That's where this text immediately begins. God doesn't hide it from us. He doesn't in any way try to say this in a confusing way. He says, those things that I purpose to do, they shall happen. Those things that I assert will come to pass, they will come to pass. When we read all the promises of the Old Testament that have already been fulfilled, We don't think like, well, he got lucky on some of those. We don't think, well, I don't know how circumstances lined up that it could all come to pass. We say, of course, God said it would happen and it happened. We say this over and over again. It is obvious to us that God is sovereign, that He is almighty. But we need to be reminded of it, as I said a moment ago, because this text really is founded on a basic proposition, what God has decreed shall surely come to pass. What God has decreed shall surely come to pass. Now, that is the nature of a decree, right? I looked up the definition of a decree, and it says it's an official order issued by a legal authority. Now, we recognize decrees in this world, but they are not always sure. Right, an authority can lay out a decree, and guess what? That could be the legislative branch, that could be executive branch, and our own nation can lay out a decree by law or executive order, and the Supreme Court could say, not gonna happen. Right, this is the structure of our nation. We recognize this. Or, presidents come and go, Congresses come and go, Supreme Courts come and go. Actually, nations come and go. And what can be decreed in one age can be rescinded in the next age. In fact, we see this kind of game being played in our own day, right? The president that comes in overrules all the executive orders of the president before him and starts issuing his own executive orders, which, if a president who doesn't like those executive orders come to power the next time, he'll rescind all those by executive order. We recognize earthly decrees are not almighty. They are not all powerful. Right? They have some power as far as the scope of that power can offer. And even then we recognize there are decrees that are made that have a limit. What is that limit? Well, the borders of the nation or jurisdiction they are given in. The governor of the state of Tennessee is not able, as far as I know, to pass a law that is binding upon the people of Arkansas or the people of Texas or the people of Oklahoma. His jurisdiction has borders. Now, the reason all that matters is because what we're doing is contrasting here, aren't we? We recognize that a decree is only as powerful, only as lasting as the one who issues it. And what the Bible is telling us is our God is not checked by any force, not checked by any office or person. His boundaries are limitless. There is no edge to His jurisdiction. What He declares cannot be stopped. If He says, here is what shall come to pass, who can thwart it? Who can overrule it? Who can impair it? No one can. That is the point that Isaiah is trying to wake us up to today. And if you recognize that, and you already recognize it, then you're already where Isaiah wants to get his people to, which is then all the things that God's already promised us will happen. We don't have to wonder if Assyria will be judged. Now we're going to come back to that again today, but he's already told us that in chapter 10, Assyria will fall. Maybe you're saying, but what about this Babylon nation? It sounds like it's going to grow to be very, very powerful. It will fall. There was a time where the people of God could scarcely believe Egypt could fall. Or that they could take the land of Canaan. That they could conquer a city like Jericho. And yet, time and again, God said, if I tell you it will happen, it will surely come to pass. So trust in the Lord. How many times do you have to see His mighty arm deliver you before you begin to clue into the pattern? That what He says, He does. And no one can stop Him. Now if all of this, theologically speaking, sounds familiar to you on decrees and the will of God and them coming to pass, you may be reckoning, recognizing the fact that our catechism the last two weeks has been on the decrees of God. So last week we had question seven. What are the decrees of God? Well what's the answer? The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His own will, whereby for His own glory He has foreordained whatever comes to pass. He's told us what He's going to do, oftentimes, and we can see it in those exercising of what He's declared He will do from the beginning that they come to pass. And then we say, well, how does He do that? How does He execute these decrees? Well, that was today's question and the answer. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and in the works of providence. So He does it by creating or He does it by ordaining. And so this is important to recognize what our Baptist fathers were telling us. This is how God works. He tells us those things that He's doing and He does them. They shall surely come to pass. In the context of this text, we recognize He has declared that something will happen. We don't have to wonder if it will happen. If it doesn't happen as soon as we thought it might, hold on. We could turn back if we were in Isaiah's day and say, well, don't you remember Abraham? Abraham got impatient, didn't he? Abraham thought, I don't understand what's happening. It's taking so long for God to fulfill this promise. So long that they began to say, maybe He intends for us to fulfill it ourselves. See, we can do the same thing. We can begin to figure out, what do we need to do to press to make this thing happen? And God says, hold on, in the right timing it shall come to pass, for it's been decreed. Now, this is all obvious from Scripture today because God asserts that it will happen. Well, what will happen? Well, we want to look at that, but first, before He even tells us the thing that will happen, He tells us why we don't have to wonder if it will happen. Notice what He says, Now, this word means something like to commit in saying. Probably not the same word that would be used for promise, but it is to say here, the Lord has said something that He is committed to. Well, what is He sworn saying? Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass. If it enters into the mind of the Lord to do, it will come to pass. Not just saying it, but those things that He wills or intends to do, they shall happen. He tells us that from the very beginning. And he says, "...and as I have purposed, so it shall stand." This is the major cornerstone of Paul's argument in Romans 9. That the Word of God cannot fail to stand, right? It must stand. It must stand. And so it does stand. And he says here again, this very truth that what he purposes will occur, will happen. And the entire Scriptures is to us a record of this very pattern. of Him declaring and it coming to pass, declaring and it coming to pass. And I said a moment ago, could the children of Israel not notice that pattern? Well, do we not notice that pattern? Because there are some times where I'm seeking some peace in a situation, and I can turn to Philippians and read how the Lord tells me to get it. To offer my supplications to Him, to pray to Him, to seek Him with thanksgiving, to pray unto Him, to give it to Him. And that's how I'll achieve peace, and yet so many times I'm wrestling through trying to figure it all out myself. And so again, how many times do I need to hear it? to believe it and to do it. And so I don't want to sit too harshly on the nation of Israel in the days of Isaiah, although God says that by now they should know. By now they should know, and we should too. So he says all this, that what he purposes to do shall occur, shall come to pass. Well, we might ask, well what is he purposing here? And this is the switch, because before he's been talking about Babylon, and now he says, that I will break the Assyrian in my land." Notice he's saying, I will not only break Assyria, but I'm going to do it in the land of Judah, in my land, the land that I have set apart and declared as my people. Now again, you could say, you could go back to where it says that the Lord had set apart a people and a nation for himself. And you might think, well, that's why you can say definitively that he has no control over the Babylonians, or Assyrians, or Egyptians, or whomever else you want to throw in there. But he tells you here, that's not true. He set aside a purpose and a land, a land and a people for a purpose, but he is all-powerful. But he will bring the Assyrians into this land and he will break them there. Now, we understand this language. To say a nation is broken, it doesn't mean it ends immediately, but it means its power is finally broken, right? Egypt did not cease to be a great nation at the exodus in one sense, but in another sense, militarily, it was destroyed. So its decline began at that point. In the same way, Assyria will come into the land of Judah, and it will have events occur that will be so devastating to its military that its decline begins immediately. Now, you probably know what that history is. Isaiah is going to come back to it in chapters like 36 and 37. But Assyria comes in and comes even to Jerusalem, and the Lord devastates, devastates the army of Assyria. Assyria will never be as mighty again as it once was. And so the Lord says, I will purpose to do this. I will bring them into my land and I will devastate them. On my mountains I will tread him underfoot. This is Assyria, the king of Assyria, representing Assyria. This is the idea that the Lord is going to destroy them. Now we might see all this in terms of the negative aspect, the destruction of an enemy. But if you were under the thumb of that enemy, that's not a negative to you, is it? It's probably a negative to the Assyrian nation reading this, but it's a positive to the people of God. And you see that here in this text because it says then, in the same exact phrasing he says, then his, meaning the Assyrian yoke, shall be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders. Again, this is the pattern we're seeing over and over again about Isaiah's prophetic word. Judgment comes upon the enemy and therefore liberty comes to the Lord's people, or at least a respite from the oppression of the oppressor. Now, we have to deal with something here that I just mentioned a moment ago. Why in the world does Isaiah jump, we could say the Holy Spirit inspiring Isaiah to write this, jump back to Assyria? And as I mentioned, I think John Oswald, the commentator, says this has confounded commentarians for centuries. But it shouldn't. It shouldn't because it's clear here the way this passage works. It works as much of prophecy works. If there's something that causes people to misunderstand the prophetic word over and over again, it's this very point. In the prophetic vision of Isaiah here, the enemies of God just change in name. Right? Their pride stays the same. Their opposition stays the same. Their lack of humility stays the same. Their opposition to God stays the same. What changes is the one or the nation. It's a new king. It's a new people. But the opposition is roughly the same. I mentioned last week from the book of Genesis, Babel and Babylon represent pride and opposition to the will of God and what nation is given to us in Revelation as symbolizing opposition to the will, work and power of God. Again, Babylon, this is not a coincidence. This is not a coincidence. And Assyria is the Babylon in Isaiah's day. Soon enough it will be Babylon. But in his day it is Assyria. And God says, I'm going to knock Assyria down. I'm going to bring Assyria low. And so He can talk in one moment about Babylon and in the next moment about Assyria. And in fact, Alec Mottyer said, this is almost like a proof in Isaiah's day that what he says about Babylon shall come to pass. Because in Babylon's day it's going to seem impossible. Wait a minute, Babylon kicked our behind. They carried us off into their land. And now our land is in utter desolation, our temple destroyed. You see, the Word of God didn't come true. And Isaiah would be saying, hold on. God's Word will be vindicated. It shall stand. It shall stand. Babylon shall fall and you shall be back in the land. It's going to happen in a way you wouldn't predict. You would never think Cyrus, the Medo-Persian king, is going to be the vehicle God uses, which he calls his own, anointed to do this. And yet, it is how God will do it. So again, the point here is, when you see Assyria fall, remember, it seemed at one time impossible that Assyria would fall. And God brought them down. It seemed the city gates of Jerusalem could never stand the assault of Sennacherib. And yet it did. And yet it did. It would never seem that Egypt could be overturned, and yet Egypt was. Pharaoh could never relent, and yet he did. Again and again, God says, how many of these examples do I have to give you before you begin to trust what I tell you? It shall happen because I tell you it shall happen. And here it is again. When you see Assyria fall, take that as yet another confirmation that Babylon will fall. And by the way, Motyer called these interim fulfillments. Why does he call them that? Because he's saying rightly this is about typology. So you have the interim fall of Assyria because it's the power. Then you have the interim fall of Babylon because it's the power. And all of those are interim fulfillments of the great promise of the day of the Lord. Isaiah is talking about through this entire section that what happens now with Assyria and later with Babylon And we could go through all those kingdoms of the earth we've talked about the last several weeks. Will one day happen to all nations, all kings, all people who oppose God? They shall be brought low under judgment. Again, if you can understand that typology, then you'll find most of prophecy will begin to make sense. It will just begin to make sense. So, as you come back to this text again, and you see this promise that He will destroy Assyria in the land of Judah. Now that is a remarkable promise. Just when you should most quiver and shake, they're in your land. If you believe God, you say, this is good. Well, how could it be good that the invader is in your land? Because this is the means by which God will destroy this evil, oppressive nation. If you have faith to believe the Word of God, you would come later and say, as we're carried off into exile in Babylon, and there are tears, of course, of seeing the temple destroyed and the city destroyed and people carried off, you could think for a moment, and yet I know this will be for our good. Maybe not immediately, maybe not initially, but I already know what's going to happen to Babylon. God is going to destroy Babylon, and He's going to bring His people out from under their oppression again. And furthermore, I don't believe the great Davidic king he's promised us has yet come to pass. And therefore, since God cannot lie and he cannot fail, hold on, be patient, wait, and endure the present trial, knowing that God will bring it all to the promises that he has made." You see, if we can think this way, a lot of these things that we fret over day to day in life kind of get into their proper perspective. God is in control, He's made great and glorious promises to us, and they shall come to pass. Whatever befalls me in this life, whatever troubles I may face, whatever trials I may currently be enduring, it is all going to be working out for my good and His glory. My friends, that is a great promise. And a promise of this table. Of this table. So as we see this, I want to move to our second point this morning. It goes right alongside. I could have kept it as really a one-point sermon this morning. Maybe you're thinking I should have. But it's God's authority is sure. Let's go together. His word is certain. His promise is certain. Because His authority is unchallenged. It cannot be infringed upon. His authority is sure. And this point is paramount. We often say a promise is only as good as the one who makes it. If you have a person who repeatedly lies to you, you say, I promise this time, even if you're trying to be gracious, you're going to have serious doubts as to whether or not this is the time it will happen. But if a person consistently has kept their word to you, you say, hey, this person's not yet not kept their word to me. And God cannot. ever not keep his word. Getting into some double negatives there. But he must keep his word. It's in his character and nature to keep his word. He is not a liar. He is a one who tells the truth. In fact, that is one of the great distinctions that he makes with the enemy, right? Tells the Pharisees, you are of your father who was the liar, the father of lies. God is not a liar. God tells the truth and He tells us these things shall come to pass and that we can trust in them. What He declares will happen. Why? Because they're upheld by His authority. It would be shocking to think about this. And it's an impossibility. I want to say that before I even continue this sentence. But if these things failed to come to pass, then He isn't God. That'd be a great confirmation if you had your doubts. You would say, well, You know, all these things He promised never happened. But my friends, a lot of our faith is undergirded because we see time and again, exactly as He prophesied these things would happen, they did. In fact, so evident and powerful is the Word of God confirmed in the fulfillment of prophecy that we see all those people who want to knock down Christianity have to twist the prophecies. They say, well, Isaiah 7, you know, the Hebrew wording there may mean it isn't a virgin. Well, it's funny, the own Jewish interpreters before Christ ever was born interpreted Parthenos and the Septuagint to be virgin. It's funny how it was always interpreted to be a virgin birth before the Christian era. I wonder why you changed your interpretation of that. And we could go to hundreds of other prophecies where the exact same thing has happened. In fact, I've been mentioning time and again in Isaiah where the liberal scholars say, well this must not be original to Isaiah. It's been inserted later because how could Isaiah have ever known about Babylon's rise? I don't have any trouble telling you. He was given that by God. He was given that by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, and therefore it is truth, and it's been verified and vindicated as the truth. And so, my friends, again, we recognize this. His authority is pictured in this decree, and we think for a moment, well, wait a minute. We said earlier, is it bound by some local authority, local borders or something? He tells you it's not. He says this is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth. When God purposes something, there's no boundary that stops it. That's how you know this will come to pass about Assyria. Well, but maybe it's because they're in the land of Judah and he has authority. No. Because he's going to bring Babylon down in their own land. And he'll do that to countless kingdoms. You see again there's this flare of the day of the Lord, this layer here of the topology of what will one day come to pass as he demonstrates that his authority goes out to the ends of the earth. All nations, all kings, all peoples under his authority. His hand, that's the picture of your power, right? Your arm or your hand. His hand, what? Stretched out over all the nations. No nation can thwart his will. For the Lord of hosts has purposed." And here's the question, who can annul it? Who can overrule God? The answer is, no one. It says here, well, his hand is stretched out. Who can turn it back? Who can push his hand back to say, not here, God. What a foolish thing to even think. None can do that. Our God is all powerful, almighty. Isaiah wants his people to know. God, speaking through His prophet, wants His people to know. There is nothing that can thwart what I'm telling you is going to come to pass. And my friends, this book of Isaiah and these chapters were not lost. They were given to us. Why? We need to hear the same thing. Those things that God declares shall come to pass. Why do we need to hear that? Well, maybe you turn on the news sometimes. You look at this world and it looks out of control, it looks chaotic. How can anybody be sure how things will work out? Because the God we just read about is still upon His throne. And all the nations are in His hands. And He has power over them. And His will shall surely come to pass. I want to close this morning by saying this is particularly important to us as we come to the Lord's table. We just sang a few minutes ago, if you still have your lyrics there, some important lyrics about how in partaking of this table, we remember what the Lord has done. And that's true. We're reminded of what he's done. Our confession also reminds us that we are blessed by what he's done. And this table is a place of blessing for the Lord's people. But it also goes even a step beyond that. Because there's that interesting thing that Paul says, that we'll read in a moment, where he says that we are to partake of this table until He comes. Now there's a reminder there, isn't there, that there are some things that God is promising to do that have yet to happen. There are still some things. He's promised me in His Word, if I've been justified, I'm being sanctified. Well, I can hopefully see some evidence of that. Hopefully you can as well in your own lives. But he promises that if we have been justified, we will certainly be glorified. Well, I've not seen that yet. Not with me. I'm not glorified certainly. But I can say as sure as I stand here, I will be one day. Because my God has promised me it will come to pass. And this table reminds us of all those promises. How can I be sure Christ is coming back? He told me. That settles it. How can I be sure that all those that put their trust in Christ are redeemed and shall not be put to shame? He's told me. How can I be sure that all those who are justified shall be glorified? He's told me. How can I be sure that there is a new heavens and a new earth that await the people of God? He's told me. And as I come to this table, I declare all those things. Otherwise, why waste the time to get up and come here this morning? Except we have a King and a Gospel to proclaim and to offer thanksgiving for and to come to this table and be reminded of what our King did for us. Paul says, don't forget you were bought at a price. In fact, the greatest price that's ever been paid, the precious blood of our Savior. And so as we come to this table, And we think for a moment, all those future promises, how can I be sure? We just come back to Isaiah 14, 24-27. If God said it, who's going to stop Him? If He promised it, who can thwart Him? In fact, one of the things I was thinking of when I read this text, this is one of the greatest proof texts, if you're looking for one, on God's sovereignty and authority and ability to bring to fruition all His promises. I thought, you know, it really should have been one of the scriptures that are used in our catechism to footnote the last two weeks. What text can I turn to and know if God has decreed it, it shall come to pass? Isaiah 14, 24-27 is a pretty good place to start. And so my friends, as we come to this table this morning, let us remember not only the promises we celebrate at this table, but let us also remember the one who's made them to us.