Latest / Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self / Isaiah 10:5-34 - God’s Judgment Against Assyria

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Isaiah 10:5-34 - God’s Judgment Against Assyria · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And I want to give a brief
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  apology for the audio on yesterday's episode because I
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  had forgotten to turn on the mic setting on my video recording
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  thing. I'm super fancy, so I use
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  QuickTime Player. For those of you that don't
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  know, that's just the default media player on on Macs.
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  So I was using QuickTime to record, but I forgot to have it
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  specify that it needed to draw the audio from my microphone.
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  That's actually right in front of me.
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  So it was drawing audio from my phone.
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  So thank you to everyone that listened through.
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  I'm, I'm sure that maybe some people didn't notice, but
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  especially if you're listening to the audio version of the
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  podcast you did. So I promise I will take greater
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  care to make sure that does not happen again.
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  We are in Isaiah chapter 10 today, beginning at verse #5.
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  We may go to the end of the chapter.
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  We'll, we'll see where we arrive.
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  The prophet Isaiah is in the southern Kingdom of Judah with
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  Jerusalem as its capital. He is prophesying against
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  declaring God's judgment against the nations around Judah.
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  At this point is kind of the section that we are in.
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  And last episode we heard about God's judgment against the
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  northern Kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital.
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  So there was going to come judgement and it was going to
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  come from the nation of Assyria. Now Assyria was also very
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  wicked. And so like we heard many, many,
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  many months ago, I think it was December of 2024, from the book
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  of Habakkuk, God does not allow evil to go unpunished.
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  And sometimes he might punish evil in one place or in one
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  people group by having another wicked nation bring that group
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  to justice or to, if you will, eradicate that particular
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  society that way in which they were living, that now they are
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  assimilated into this new nation.
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  But no nation that will ever encounter is perfect.
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  And so every nation is one day getting for judgment day.
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  And that was true even here of Assyria.
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  So though God would use Assyria to punish Israel, Assyria
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  themselves would need to be punished for their wickedness.
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  And so that's what we're going to hear about today is Isaiah's
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  prophecy against the nation of Assyria.
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  Verse #5 of Isaiah 10. Woe to Assyria, the rod of my
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  anger. The staff in their hands is my
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  wrath. So you're just starting off.
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  God says I am using them, but it is for a specific purpose.
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  God can use even human evil to accomplish ultimate good.
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  So he says would to Assyria. The rod of my anger, the staff
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  in their hands is my wrath. That is, they are not acting
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  independently of God. Some people could wonder, OK,
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  this is Israel, the people of God, the name itself.
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  Israel is the name that God gave to Jacob after he wrestled with
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  him at Peniel. And so it's like Prince with God
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  is the name, and so is Yahweh no longer in charge.
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  And that's why Assyria was able to conquer Israel.
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  No, God says Assyria is accomplishing my will.
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  Verse number six. He says I will send him against
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  a godless nation that is Israel. He says I will command him to go
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  against a people destined for my rage, to take spoils, to plunder
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  and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
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  But this is not what he plans. It is sorry, this is not what he
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  intends. This is not what he plans.
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  It is his intent to destroy and to cut off many nations.
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  For he says, and this is if you will, the the king, the the king
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  of Assyria, the one that would be in charge ultimately of what
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  the military is doing. God has Israel set out for what
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  Assyria is going to destroy. But the king of Assyria would
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  want more verse #8 He says, aren't all my commanders kings?
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  Isn't Kalno like Carcamesh? Isn't Hamas like Arpad?
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  Isn't Samaria like Damascus? These are all these places,
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  capital cities all around the ancient Near East, ancient
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  Middle East. And so he says, I've destroyed
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  all of these places and there's no difference between any of
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  them. It doesn't matter what kind of
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  tribal gods a place has. We're Assyria, we are bigger, we
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  are batter, we're better in every way.
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  Verse #10 Is is My hand sees the kingdoms of worthless images,
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  kingdoms whose idols exceeded those of Jerusalem and Samaria.
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  And as I did to Samaria and it's worthless images, will I not
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  also do to Jerusalem and its idols?
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  So here the king of Assyria wants to destroy the southern
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  Kingdom of Judah as well. This is not what God is going to
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  have occur. Verse #12 But when the Lord
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  finishes all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he
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  will say, I will punish the king of Assyria for his arrogant acts
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  and the proud look in his eyes. For he said, I have done this by
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  my own strength and wisdom, for I am clever.
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  I abolished the borders of nations and plundered their
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  treasures. Like a mighty warrior.
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  I subjugated the inhabitants. My hand is reached out as if
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  into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations.
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  Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered the whole
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  earth. No wing fluttered, no beak
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  opened or chirped. So here the king of Assyria
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  thinks I have robbed the gods of all of these nations that
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  Assyria has invaded and destroyed, subjugated and taxed.
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  So he says that there's going to be no difference here for Judah,
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  but God is going to make a difference.
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  Verse #15 Does an axe exalt itself above the one who chops
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  with it? So you guys know what is better,
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  the you know, the microphone or the person that remembers to
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  turn on the microphone? Who is greater with the
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  microphone? Say man, I am so amazing, I'm so
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  great. We we would all say no.
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  The one that is utilizing a tool is far in a way greater than the
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  one than the tool itself. Without the person swinging the
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  axe, the axe would do absolutely nothing.
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  So here Isaiah is saying, King of Assyria, the only reason that
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  you can do anything is because God for a limited time has had
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  you accomplished some of these things he says.
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  Does a saw magnify itself above the one who saws with it?
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  It would be like a rod waving the ones who lift it.
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  It would be like a staff lifting the one who isn't wood.
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  The microphone doesn't use me, I use the microphone.
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  Therefore, verse 16 Yahweh out an eye of heaven's armies will
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  inflict an emaciating disease on the well fed of Assyria, and he
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  will kindle a burning fire under its glory.
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  Israel's light will become a fire and it's holy 1A flame.
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  In one day it will burn and consume a serious thorns and
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  thistles. He will completely destroy the
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  glory of its forests and orchards.
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  As a sickness consumes a person. The remaining trees of its
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  forest will be so few in number that a child could count them.
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  Here there is this promise of God that he says just as
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  judgment is coming against the northern Kingdom of Israel, God
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  is going to bring judgment against Assyria.
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  Now one thing that will show up over and over again in a in
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  Isaiah is that God's judgement will come on all the nations.
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  And it doesn't matter who it is, they will experience the
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  judgement of God. But God's judgement, like when
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  you think about, you know, here the, the burning fire that comes
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  from God, most of us think of something like hell, that fire
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  that never goes out. However, when the prophets talk
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  about the fire of God, it's something that goes through it
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  purges, it purges out evil, but something better is on the other
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  end, something that is part of God's plan.
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  So if you don't listen to the Bible Talk podcast put on by 9
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  Marks and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, strongly
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  encourage you to listen to that. That's been a great help even as
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  I've been learning the Bible over the past several years.
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  And one of the things that the some of the professors there
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  have highlighted is that theme of Isaiah is transformation or
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  God's glory through judgment. That wickedness is there.
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  God brings his judgment so that then after the judgment there
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  can be what is good in the world.
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  You can think of even in the story of Noah, that you have all
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  of this pervasive wickedness all across the earth.
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  The flood happens, and then after that God makes a covenant.
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  There is sacrifice. There are people that know and
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  follow and worship God. And so in a much greater way,
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  that's what God highlights throughout Isaiah is, yes, Judah
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  is going to be punished, but the end result is what we read in
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  Isaiah 2, the new Jerusalem, the Jerusalem with the Messiah, with
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  God himself at the helm of Judah.
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  And so that's when you read through the things about the
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  fire that comes through. Yes, God will bring judgment,
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  but the the plan of God is after judgment comes this
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  transformation comes something new and better.
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  Verse #20 On that day, the day of the judgement of Assyria, the
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  remnant of Israel and the survivors of the House of Jacob
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  will no longer depend on the one who struck them, but they will
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  faithfully depend on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.
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  The remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty
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  God. If you remember, Mighty God is
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  that title of the Messiah that we read in Isaiah 9.
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  Israel. If even if your people were as
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  numerous as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will
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  return. Destruction has been decreed.
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  Justice overflows for throughout the land.
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  Yahweh Adonai of Heaven's armies is carrying out a destruction
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  that was decreed. Therefore, Yahweh Adonai of
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  Heaven's armies says this. My people who dwell in Zion do
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  not fear Assyria, though. They strike you with a rod and
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  raise their staff over you as the Egyptians did.
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  That's, you know, the slavery that is there.
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  There is subjugation that Assyria puts on Judah for a
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  little bit, he says. In just a little while, my wrath
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  will be spent, and my anger will turn to their destruction.
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  And Yahweh of Heaven's armies will brandish a whip against
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  him, as he did when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb, and
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  he will raise his staff over the sea as he did in Egypt.
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  So here, bringing to mind the stories of the Exodus and when
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  God delivered Israel from the attack by Midian, and when God
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  parted the Red Sea as Moses lifted his staff.
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  God says I'm going to make a way of deliverance for you, Judah.
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  Verse #27 On that day his burden will fall from your shoulders
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  and his yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because
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  your neck will be too large. There will be great strength
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  that is there that they will not be able to be subjugated any
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  longer. Verse #28 Assyria has come to
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  IAF and has gone through Migron, storing their equipment at
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  Mickmash. They crossed over at the
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  forward, saying, We will spend the night at Giba.
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  The people of Rama are trembling.
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  Those at Gibia of Saul have fled.
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  Cry aloud, daughter of Galim. Listen.
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  Elisha Anathoth is miserable. Mad MENA has fled.
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  The inhabitants of Gabim have sought refuge.
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  Today the Assyrians will stand at Knob shaking their fists at
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  the mountain of Daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
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  Look Yahweh out. An eye of heaven's armies will
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  chop off the branches with terrifying power, and the tall
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  trees will be cut down, the high trees felled.
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  He is clearing the thickets of the forest with an axe and
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  Lebanon with its majesty will fall here.
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  It kind of goes back into the prophetic judgment against
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  Israel, That northern Kingdom there at the end that God says
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  yes, I'm going to judge Assyria. It will be good on that day that
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  I judge Assyria for the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  But northern Kingdom of Israel, due to your wickedness, there
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  are consequences. And so they're being described.
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  Are several of the places there in the northern portion of
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  Israel, one of those 10 northern tribes, Saul there from the
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  tribe of Ephraim or sorry, Saul from the tribe of Benjamin that
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  is there. When you read through these
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  portions of Scripture, we got to remember a couple things.
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  Number one, God is holy and just and there is right and good
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  consequences and punishment for sin.
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  For every person that was taken advantage of, defrauded, killed,
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  abused in a variety of ways, God saw and God would bring
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  punishment. So you can always know when
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  others have done you wrong in your life.
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  You can count on the justice of God.
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  We read that in Romans 12. Leave vengeance to the Lord
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  because He is just and He will bring a right response to human
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  evil. So that's that's one part.
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  Another is refuse sin, like reject it.
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  It will always lead to the destruction and ruin of your
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  soul and of every relationship that you have.
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  You may think through being selfish or being proud or lying
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  to someone or cheating, kind of getting ahead a little bit in
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  this area or that area. You may think that it will lead
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  to your flourishing, but it will not.
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  So reject evil and instead pursue the way of the Lord.
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  It is the way that leads to life.
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  And when the nations and when evil doers all across our world,
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  when they experience the judgment of God, those that have
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  instead turned their lives over to Jesus, that he is their Lord
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  and their Savior and they and we follow his way, we will
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  experience life because following Jesus is that only
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  path to life. So follow Christ, know that God
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  will judge evil. Don't love sin.
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  And man, what a joy. Even as we think about this, our
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  ultimate hope now as Christians is not in the nation that we
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  find ourselves in. I know we have listeners and
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  watchers from a couple different countries.
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  So if you're in the US, if you're in Canada, if you're in
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  India, know that the Lord does not.
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  Your primary concern is not the sustaining of your particular
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  nation because you have been made into a new holy nation.
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  As we read in First Peter Two, that is the church.
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  And so now instead of us trying to maintain a physical nation,
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  God says you are a nation wherever you find yourselves.
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  And so may we be a godly nation, a godly people of Jesus, even as
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  we think about the way that we treat one another, what we do
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  with our finances, the words that we use in relation to one
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  another, and how we care and love each other.
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  Those ought to be the pursuits of our life.
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  And may we do so in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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  And it is only through him that we can experience the good life,
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  that we can be that remnant, that we can follow the way of
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  God. It is only through what Jesus is
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  doing, through the Holy Spirit in US.
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  There's no good in US. There is all good in God.
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  But as God has placed himself and his presence into our life,
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  we can experience the good life that Jesus has for us, even in
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  the middle of a world that is barreling towards judgment.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. Hope you have a wonderful day.